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Want to be sure you have the perfect March Madness bracket this year? Not possible.

If you were to stack the amount of paper it would take to fill in every bracket with every possibility among the 68 teams who will play 67 games over the next three weeks, it would not fit inside the universe.

So says Michael Weimerskirch, a math professor at Augsburg College who gets paid to think about numbers and the way they affect the Kentuckys, Butlers and VCUs of the world.

But theres this small glimmer of hope. Weimerskirch says you could simply start flipping coins. The odds of finding perfection that way by flipping a coin to pick the winner of every game: 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000. For those keeping score at home, thats 1-in-100 million trillion.

Or, to put it another way: Youre just as likely to win Powerball three consecutive times as you are to picking a perfect bracket by flipping a coin, Weimerskirch says.

Of course, the NCAA tournament is all about making the impossible seem possible. Butler, a school with only 4,000 kids, made it to the finals two years in a row. VCU started the tournament last year as a No. 11 seed and wound up playing in the Final Four.

For those setting their sights on winning their friendly office pool, there are, in fact, ways to improve your odds.

Weimerskirch suggests looking at the number of people in the pool. The more people in the pool, the more you must stray from picking a slate of straight-line favorites. Kentucky, by the way, is the odds-on pick at 2-1, followed by North Carolina at 6-1.

Its one thing to pick favorites to win the whole thing, but you have to know others are picking the favorites to win the whole thing, too, he said. So, if youre in an office pool with 1,000 people in it, you need to do something a little bit unusual.

He recommends selecting a No. 14 seed to make it to the Sweet 16. Or an 11 to go to the Final Four, a la VCU. You need something unusual to go your way, Weimerskirch says.

Here is the original post:
NCAA tournament: Picking a perfect bracket a tough numbers game

Want to be sure you have the perfect March Madness bracket this year? Not possible.

If you were to stack the amount of paper it would take to fill in every bracket with every possibility among the 68 teams who will play 67 games over the next three weeks, it would not fit inside the universe.

So says Michael Weimerskirch, a math professor at Augsburg College who gets paid to think about numbers and the way they affect the Kentuckys, Butlers and VCUs of the world.

But there's this small glimmer of hope. Weimerskirch says you could simply start flipping coins. The odds of finding perfection that way by flipping a coin to pick the winner of every game: 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000. For those keeping score at home, that's 1-in-100 million trillion.

Or, to put it another way: You're just as likely to win Powerball three consecutive times as you are to picking a perfect bracket by flipping a coin, Weimerskirch says.

Of course, the NCAA tournament is all about making the impossible seem possible. Butler, a school with only 4,000 kids, made it to the finals two years in a row. VCU started the tournament last year as a No. 11 seed and wound up playing in the Final Four.

For those setting their sights on winning their friendly office pool, there are, in fact, ways to improve your odds.

Weimerskirch suggests looking at the number of people in the pool. The more people in the pool, the more you must stray from picking a slate of straight-line favorites. Kentucky, by the way, is the odds-on pick at 2-1, followed by North Carolina at 6-1.

It's one thing to pick favorites to win the whole thing, but you have to know others are picking the favorites to win the whole thing, too, he said. So, if you're in an office pool with 1,000 people in it, you need to do something a little bit unusual.

He recommends selecting a No. 14 seed to make it to the Sweet 16. Or an 11 to go to the Final Four, a la VCU.

Continued here:
Basketball brackets have you busted? Coin flip chances are 1-in-100 million trillion

12 March 2012 Last updated at 15:38 ET

The search for a British man who went missing in the Cayman Islands has been called off.

Nathan Clarke, 30, from Cheltenham, was last seen on 25 February on Grand Cayman. His phone was found in the sea.

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service said only has phone has been found since he went missing 16 days ago.

Ch Insp Richard Barrow said: "We have completely exhausted the search areas at land and at sea, but unfortunately we have not been able to find Nathan."

Police say although the land and sea searches have been called off investigations into his disappearance were still "very active".

Hundreds of volunteers worked alongside police officers in the hunt for Mr Clarke - with 527 helping on one day.

He was last seen near Calico Jack's beach bar on West Bay Road on the Caribbean island wearing swimming shorts.

Ch Insp Barrow added: "I would like to thank all of the volunteers who came out day after day and tirelessly assisted our officers during the searches.

"I know that Nathan's parents, his brother and sister, his fiancee Lisa and her parents are also very grateful to all those who have helped and shown support during this difficult time."

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Cayman missing hunt man hunt ends

10-03-2012 19:16 The Members - Offshore Banking Business

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The Members - Offshore Banking Business - Video

Zacks highlights commentary from People and Picks Member inthemoneystocks.

For more Voice of the People, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=7872

Featured Post

Chinese Internet Stocks Signal Trouble

As of Monday afternoon, many of the leading Chinese internet stocks are coming under some distribution. Last night, China reported some economic data that was below analysts expectations. This tells us that the world's hottest economy could be cooling off. Any slowdown in China could be problematic for the global economy.

Sina Corp ( SINA ) is a leading Chinese internet stock that started the session very strong. The stock traded as high as $80.80 a share at the open. This afternoon, SINA is trading lower by $2.51 to $74.89 a share. This is a reversal of nearly $6.00 a share from the intra-day high. If the stock closes at this level it will have formed a bearish outside reversal day on the charts.

The volume is also slightly higher than most of the past trading days and this tells us that the sell off has institutional conviction. The stock will have very good daily chart support around the $61.00 level. Short term traders can watch for intra-day support around the $73.00, and $70.66 levels.

Other leading Chinese internet stocks that are coming under intra-day selling pressure include Baidu Inc ( BIDU ), Netease.com Inc ( NTES ) and Sohu.com Inc ( SOHU ). These leading Chinese internet stocks should be followed very closely over the next week or so. Further reversal days in the Chinese ADR's could be signal future problems ahead for the Chinese economy.

Nicholas Santiago

InTheMoneyStocks.com

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Chinese Internet Stocks Signal Trouble - Voice of the People