Mechanics of Integrating Expert into the Nats

[Howard Rush]

Just a detail here: 23 guys got scores on the board in Advanced at the 2012 Nats (http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=27782.new#new).  It's not a big deal.  It could have been 21, but it wasn't.

[Howard Rush]

I think I figured out how to distribute the events over four groups (the groups get mapped into Circles 1-4 by a random draw at the Nats pilots' meeting).  Where L is the number of entries in the largest event, M is the number of entries in the middle-size event, and S is the number of entries in the smallest event, and we use 10 as Steve's max-per-circle number,

If L < 11, the largest event will go to group A
If 10 < L < 21, the largest event will be divided between groups A and B
If 20 < L < 31, the largest event will be divided among groups A, B, and C
if 30 < L, the largest event will be divided among all four groups

If M < 11, the middle-size event will go to group D
If 10 < M < 21, the middle-size event will be divided between groups C and D
If 20 < M < 31, the middle-size event will be divided among groups B, C, and D
if 30 < M, the middle-size event will be divided among all four groups

Now is the interesting part.  First, assign the largest and middle-size events to groups.  Then,

If S < 11, the smallest event will go to the (or a) group with the smallest L + M population
If 10 < S < 21, the smallest event will be divided between (the) two groups with the smallest L + M population
If 20 < S < 31, the smallest event will be divided among (the) three groups with the smallest L + M population
If 30 < S, the smallest event will be divided among all four groups

I think that'll work. It should give a maximum circle population difference of ten, but judges could have a heavy circle one day and a light circle the other day.  For a given event, the maximum circle population difference is one, as it is with the current system.  I am working on a VBA Excel program to do this.  When I get it finished, I'll hose it around and you can enter different combinations of event entries and see how it distributes them. 

I made the program.  Fiddle with it and see what you think.  I'll send it to people who have participated in this discussion.  If anybody else wants it, email me and I'll send it to you.
 

[Howard Rush]

I updated the program to include Steven's formulae for how many guys advance to the next round.  Things we have been discussing are user-entered variables:

max number of contestants advancing per event (for large entry)
fraction of contestants advancing per event (for small entry)
max number of contestants per event before we spread the event over another circle

You can enter separate numbers for each event.

I'll also hose this one around to discussion participants and anybody else who wants it.