Difference between revisions of "Lafer number"
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(Created page with "The degree of separation is a way of representing how connected Quiz Bowl players are, similar to Bacon numbers in film or Erdos numbers in publishing. To qualify as a degree...") |
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| − | The degree of separation is a way of representing how connected | + | The degree of separation is a way of representing how connected quizbowl players are, similar to [[wikipedia:Bacon number|Bacon number]]s in film or [[wikipedia:Erdős number|Erdős number]]s in mathematical publishing. To qualify as a degree of separation, two players need to play on the same team together (whether middle school, high school, college, or open) in a quizbowl tournament, particularly if statistics from that tournament can be found in the HDWhite Database. |
| + | |||
==How to calculate== | ==How to calculate== | ||
| − | + | [[Ryan Rosenberg]] has assembled a graph database of players on his College Quizbowl Stats website (available as a file on the Quizbowl Discord server) that can be used to help calculate degrees of separation for College and Open events. For high school and middle school, however, degrees must be found manually through looking at the databases on HDWhite, NAQT, and College Quizbowl Stats. The list of players with a Lafer number of 1 (seen below) can be used as a centerpiece for calculations. | |
| − | ==Lafer | + | |
| − | One method of measuring centrality in | + | ==Lafer number== |
| + | One method of measuring centrality in quizbowl is the '''Lafer number''', calculating how many degrees of separation a player is from [[Matt Lafer]] (a longtime quizbowl player who has played in many open tournaments). The following is an example of how a Lafer number is calculated: | ||
{| border="1" cellspacing="1" | {| border="1" cellspacing="1" | ||
|# | |# | ||
| − | |Name/Played | + | |Name/Played with |
|- | |- | ||
|0 | |0 | ||
| Line 12: | Line 14: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| | | | ||
| − | | | + | |played [[Cambridge Open]] UIUC 2018 with |
|- | |- | ||
|1 | |1 | ||
| Line 18: | Line 20: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| | | | ||
| − | | | + | |played [[NASAT]] @ Columbia 2024 with |
|- | |- | ||
|2 | |2 | ||
| Line 24: | Line 26: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| | | | ||
| − | | | + | |played [[2025 ACF Regionals]] with |
|- | |- | ||
|3 | |3 | ||
|[[Olin Bose]] | |[[Olin Bose]] | ||
|} | |} | ||
| − | Lafer numbers can potentially be used as a centerpiece to connect a pair of different players. Matt Lafer is the only player with a Lafer | + | Lafer numbers can potentially be used as a centerpiece to connect a pair of different players. Matt Lafer is the only player with a Lafer number of 0, and anyone who is disconnected from him entirely in databases (such as [[Ken Jennings]], who has statistics for only one tournament and his teammates did not play any others), has a Lafer number of infinity. |
| − | Other suggested centers include [[Mike Bentley]] and [[Matt Bollinger]], both of whom have a Lafer number of | + | Other suggested centers include [[Mike Bentley]] and [[Matt Bollinger]], both of whom have a Lafer number of 1. The following list is of all players who have a Lafer number of 1, as of May 27, 2025. |
| − | ==Players with a Lafer | + | |
| + | ==Players with a Lafer number of 1== | ||
{{Columns-list|colwidth=300px| | {{Columns-list|colwidth=300px| | ||
| − | |||
:[[Aaron Cohen]] | :[[Aaron Cohen]] | ||
:[[Aaron Rosenberg]] | :[[Aaron Rosenberg]] | ||
| Line 82: | Line 84: | ||
:[[Eric Wolfsberg]] | :[[Eric Wolfsberg]] | ||
:[[Erik Christensen]] | :[[Erik Christensen]] | ||
| − | |||
:[[Ethan Strombeck]] | :[[Ethan Strombeck]] | ||
:[[Ezequiel Berdichevsky]] | :[[Ezequiel Berdichevsky]] | ||
| Line 110: | Line 111: | ||
:[[Jordan Brownstein]] | :[[Jordan Brownstein]] | ||
:[[Kai Smith]] | :[[Kai Smith]] | ||
| − | |||
:[[Kenji Shimizu]] | :[[Kenji Shimizu]] | ||
:[[Kevin Malis]] | :[[Kevin Malis]] | ||
| Line 118: | Line 118: | ||
:[[Libo Zeng]] | :[[Libo Zeng]] | ||
:[[Logan Anbinder]] | :[[Logan Anbinder]] | ||
| − | :[[Lorin | + | :[[Lorin Burte]] |
:[[Luke Van De Weghe]] | :[[Luke Van De Weghe]] | ||
| + | :[[Marnold]] | ||
:[[Mateo Acosta]] | :[[Mateo Acosta]] | ||
:[[Matt Bollinger]] | :[[Matt Bollinger]] | ||
| Line 143: | Line 144: | ||
:[[Rob Carson]] | :[[Rob Carson]] | ||
:[[Rob Dean]] | :[[Rob Dean]] | ||
| − | |||
:[[Ryan Rosenberg]] | :[[Ryan Rosenberg]] | ||
:[[Ryan Westbrook]] | :[[Ryan Westbrook]] | ||
| Line 166: | Line 166: | ||
:[[Will Nediger]] | :[[Will Nediger]] | ||
:[[Will Turner]] | :[[Will Turner]] | ||
| − | :[[ | + | :[[Yvonne Bordowitz]] |
:[[Yevgeny Shirago]] | :[[Yevgeny Shirago]] | ||
:[[Yibo Ling]] | :[[Yibo Ling]] | ||
:[[Yogesh Raut]] | :[[Yogesh Raut]] | ||
}} | }} | ||
| − | ==Other Lafer | + | |
| + | ==Other Lafer numbers== | ||
===2=== | ===2=== | ||
| − | *[[Andrew Yaphe]] ( | + | *[[Iain Carpenter]] (played with [[Mitch McCullar]] at 2024 COOT Online) |
| + | *[[Jeff Hoppes]] (played with [[Selene Koo]], [[Andrew Hart]], and [[Seth Teitler]] at [[2011 Chicago Open]]) | ||
| + | *[[Matt Jackson]] (played with [[Matt Weiner]] and [[John Lawrence]] at [[2014 Chicago Open]]) | ||
| + | *[[David Madden]] (played with [[Matt Weiner]] at [[2012 Chicago Open]] History Doubles) | ||
| + | *[[Liam Starnes]] (played with [[Conor Thompson]] and [[John Lawrence]] at 2022 CMST II) | ||
| + | *[[Forrest Weintraub]] (played with [[Mitch McCullar]] at 2024 COOT Online) | ||
| + | *[[Andrew Yaphe]] (played with [[Selene Koo]] and [[Seth Teitler]] at Chicago at [[2005 ICT]] and others) | ||
| + | *[[Charles Young]] (played with [[Conor Thompson]] at 2020 SUN Open) | ||
| + | *[[Andrew Zeng]] (played with [[Mitch McCullar]] at 2024 COOT Online) | ||
| + | A list of players with Lafer numbers of 2 and greater (only on College Quiz Bowl Stats) is available as a .csv file created by Ryan Rosenberg. | ||
| + | ==Theory== | ||
| + | ==="Pockets"=== | ||
| + | While most college and open players frequently have low separation from each other, or Lafer numbers, the Lafer numbers can become a lot higher in high school and middle school levels. While the fact that there is (usually) continuity between players over the years as older players play with younger ones, the only way they get Lafer numbers is by those players that either choose to play at NASAT or open tournaments, or choose to continue doing quizbowl in college. | ||
| + | |||
| + | For example, Mountain Lakes High School (and its middle school counterpart Briarcliff) have had a quizbowl program running since 2011 and has had over 100 players over the years. However, as only five of them have gone on to play in college (and three of them have a known Lafer number of 3), every other person who has played for the high school has a Lafer number of four or above. | ||
| + | {| border="1" cellspacing="1" | ||
| + | |# | ||
| + | |Name/Played with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |0 | ||
| + | |[[Matt Lafer]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |played [[ACRONYM 2017]] with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |1 | ||
| + | |[[Eric Mukherjee]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |played 2024 NASAT Online Open with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |2 | ||
| + | |[[Jason Golfinos]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |played [[2014 ACF Regionals]] with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |3 | ||
| + | |[[Ted Rappleye]] | ||
| + | |}<br> | ||
| + | |||
| + | {| border="1" cellspacing="1" | ||
| + | |# | ||
| + | |Name/Played With | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |0 | ||
| + | |[[Matt Lafer]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |played [[Scattergories]] 5 (2021) with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |1 | ||
| + | |[[Anderson Wang]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |played [[2024 Chicago Open]] with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |2 | ||
| + | |[[Emmett Laurie]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |played [[2018 ACF Regionals]] with | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |3 | ||
| + | |[[Ron Mucci]] | ||
| + | |} | ||
[[Category:Quizbowl lingo]] | [[Category:Quizbowl lingo]] | ||
Latest revision as of 15:02, 1 June 2025
The degree of separation is a way of representing how connected quizbowl players are, similar to Bacon numbers in film or Erdős numbers in mathematical publishing. To qualify as a degree of separation, two players need to play on the same team together (whether middle school, high school, college, or open) in a quizbowl tournament, particularly if statistics from that tournament can be found in the HDWhite Database.
How to calculate
Ryan Rosenberg has assembled a graph database of players on his College Quizbowl Stats website (available as a file on the Quizbowl Discord server) that can be used to help calculate degrees of separation for College and Open events. For high school and middle school, however, degrees must be found manually through looking at the databases on HDWhite, NAQT, and College Quizbowl Stats. The list of players with a Lafer number of 1 (seen below) can be used as a centerpiece for calculations.
Lafer number
One method of measuring centrality in quizbowl is the Lafer number, calculating how many degrees of separation a player is from Matt Lafer (a longtime quizbowl player who has played in many open tournaments). The following is an example of how a Lafer number is calculated:
| # | Name/Played with |
| 0 | Matt Lafer |
| played Cambridge Open UIUC 2018 with | |
| 1 | Halle Friedman |
| played NASAT @ Columbia 2024 with | |
| 2 | Noah Chen |
| played 2025 ACF Regionals with | |
| 3 | Olin Bose |
Lafer numbers can potentially be used as a centerpiece to connect a pair of different players. Matt Lafer is the only player with a Lafer number of 0, and anyone who is disconnected from him entirely in databases (such as Ken Jennings, who has statistics for only one tournament and his teammates did not play any others), has a Lafer number of infinity. Other suggested centers include Mike Bentley and Matt Bollinger, both of whom have a Lafer number of 1. The following list is of all players who have a Lafer number of 1, as of May 27, 2025.
Players with a Lafer number of 1
- Aaron Cohen
- Aaron Rosenberg
- Adam Kemezis
- Adam Perkins
- Ahmad Ragab
- Alan Kreisel
- Alexander Darby
- Alston Boyd
- Amol Patil
- Anderson Wang
- Andrew Hart
- Andrew Hunter
- Andrew Ullsperger
- Andrew Wang
- Ani Perumalla
- Ashvin Srivatsa
- Ashwath Seetharaman
- Athena Kern
- Atilla Tislericz
- Auroni Gupta
- B.J. Ryan
- Benji Nguyen
- Bernadette Spencer
- Billy Busse
- Brendan Byrne
- Brennan Boesch
- Bryan Berend
- Carsten Gehring
- Casey Bindas
- Charles Hang
- Charles Wang
- Chinmay Kansara
- Chris Borglum
- Chris Grubb
- Chris Ray
- Chris Vicich
- Colby Burnett
- Connor Teevens
- Conor Thompson
- David Rappaport
- David Seal
- Dennis Loo
- Doug Graebner
- Doug Yetman
- Dylan Minarik
- Eric Mukherjee
- Eric Wolfsberg
- Erik Christensen
- Ethan Strombeck
- Ezequiel Berdichevsky
- Finn Bender
- Foster Hughes
- Ganon Evans
- Gaurav Kandlikar
- Gautam Kandlikar
- Greg Peterson
- Guy Tabachnick
- Halle Friedman
- Henry Atkins
- Holly Luo
- Ike Jose
- Jacob Manaker
- Jaimie Carlson
- James Lasker
- Jason Thompson
- Jay Misuk
- Jeremy Eaton
- Jerry Vinokurov
- JinAh Kim
- John Lawrence
- Jon Pinyan
- Jonathan Magin
- Jonathan Tran
- Jordan Brownstein
- Kai Smith
- Kenji Shimizu
- Kevin Malis
- Kurt Sarsfield
- Kurtis Droge
- Leo Wolpert
- Libo Zeng
- Logan Anbinder
- Lorin Burte
- Luke Van De Weghe
- Marnold
- Mateo Acosta
- Matt Bollinger
- Matt Hayes
- Matt Weiner
- Michael Coates
- Michael Kearney
- Michael Zhuang
- Mik Larsen
- Mike Bentley
- Mike Cheyne
- Mike Donohue
- Mike Etzkorn
- Mike Sorice
- Mitch McCullar
- Naveed Chowdhury
- Nicolas Walters
- Pat Freeburn
- Paul Litvak
- Phil Boileau
- Pranav Sivakumar
- Ray Luo
- Rob Carson
- Rob Dean
- Ryan Rosenberg
- Ryan Westbrook
- Sam Bailey
- Sara Garnett
- Saul Hankin
- Selene Koo
- Seth Teitler
- Siddhant Dogra
- Stephen Liu
- Steve Traicoff
- Tamara Vardomskaya
- Taylor Harvey
- Tejas Raje
- Thomas Edwards
- Timm Hannon
- Tony Chen
- Trevor Davis
- Victor Pavao
- Will Alston
- Will Grossman
- Will Nediger
- Will Turner
- Yvonne Bordowitz
- Yevgeny Shirago
- Yibo Ling
- Yogesh Raut
Other Lafer numbers
2
- Iain Carpenter (played with Mitch McCullar at 2024 COOT Online)
- Jeff Hoppes (played with Selene Koo, Andrew Hart, and Seth Teitler at 2011 Chicago Open)
- Matt Jackson (played with Matt Weiner and John Lawrence at 2014 Chicago Open)
- David Madden (played with Matt Weiner at 2012 Chicago Open History Doubles)
- Liam Starnes (played with Conor Thompson and John Lawrence at 2022 CMST II)
- Forrest Weintraub (played with Mitch McCullar at 2024 COOT Online)
- Andrew Yaphe (played with Selene Koo and Seth Teitler at Chicago at 2005 ICT and others)
- Charles Young (played with Conor Thompson at 2020 SUN Open)
- Andrew Zeng (played with Mitch McCullar at 2024 COOT Online)
A list of players with Lafer numbers of 2 and greater (only on College Quiz Bowl Stats) is available as a .csv file created by Ryan Rosenberg.
Theory
"Pockets"
While most college and open players frequently have low separation from each other, or Lafer numbers, the Lafer numbers can become a lot higher in high school and middle school levels. While the fact that there is (usually) continuity between players over the years as older players play with younger ones, the only way they get Lafer numbers is by those players that either choose to play at NASAT or open tournaments, or choose to continue doing quizbowl in college.
For example, Mountain Lakes High School (and its middle school counterpart Briarcliff) have had a quizbowl program running since 2011 and has had over 100 players over the years. However, as only five of them have gone on to play in college (and three of them have a known Lafer number of 3), every other person who has played for the high school has a Lafer number of four or above.
| # | Name/Played with |
| 0 | Matt Lafer |
| played ACRONYM 2017 with | |
| 1 | Eric Mukherjee |
| played 2024 NASAT Online Open with | |
| 2 | Jason Golfinos |
| played 2014 ACF Regionals with | |
| 3 | Ted Rappleye |
| # | Name/Played With |
| 0 | Matt Lafer |
| played Scattergories 5 (2021) with | |
| 1 | Anderson Wang |
| played 2024 Chicago Open with | |
| 2 | Emmett Laurie |
| played 2018 ACF Regionals with | |
| 3 | Ron Mucci |