Roots Average Takes Nose-Dive
Makes a good arguement for preseason practice
The first day of practice this season was the same as many other Deadwood preseason practices. Enthusiasm was high, the arms were a little sore, and Root was nowhere to be found. Continuing his boycott of all forms of practice, Root started off the season with his first swing at the plate against The Desperados. What followed was a magnificent display of batting that ended with Root going 4 for 4. Root's average was the highest on the team ... including all those guys who practiced. Coach Rocky was in awe of this spectacle. Had Root discovered a training secret that the team should follow? Root's second game was just as strong, again batting 1.000. The third game Root dropped to 2 for 3. But who could complain? Root had to miss sooner or later. Besides, at 0.917 he still had the highest average on the team. Yet no one could see the avalanche that was coming. With each game Root's batting average dropped even further. His results are plotted in the graph below. The trend is obvious. The question is, how low can it go? Coach Rocky, being the constant strategist and planner, curve fit the data to see where Root was headed. How strong would Root be by tournament time when he will be needed the most? Says Rocky, "it looks like an exponential decay." According to Rocky's best predictions, Root will be batting a mear 0.410 cummulative average by the end of the season. Root is currently 18 for 26 on the season. To hit 0.410 by season's end, Root will probably hit somewhere about 4 for 26 in the second half of the season. Rocky concludes "I think it is safe to say that Root peaked a little too early this season."
Rocky's curve fit: f(x) = 1.03252 * exp(-0.05166*x)
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