Who's \#1? The science of rating and ranking (Q2866030)

This book is a natural outgrowth of the authors' earlier book [Google's PageRank and beyond. The science of search engine rankings. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. x, 214 p. (2006; Zbl 1104.68042)]. The authors have sought to put the multitude of methods and applications together into one nice package. In addition to collecting in one place relevant information that is spread throughout many individual articles, websites, and other sources, the authors also present several new ideas of their own concerning rating and ranking.NEWLINENEWLINE The goal of the book is to arm readers with enough background and diversity to generate an appreciation for the general art of rating and ranking as well as to prepare them to explore additional techniques and applications.NEWLINENEWLINE The authors provide the first comprehensive overview of the mathematical algorithms and methods used to rate and rank sport teams, political candidates, products, Web pages, and more. In series of interesting asides, the authors provide fascinating insights into the ingenious contributions of many of the field's pioneers.NEWLINENEWLINE The book compares the different methods employed today, showing why their strengths and weakness depend on the underlying goal, and explaining why and when a given method should be considered. The science of rating and ranking touches virtually every facet of our lives, and it is important to understand how it really works.NEWLINENEWLINE The book is divided into 18 chapters each of them is devoted to a particular problem. Many chapters end with interesting asides and examples taken from a variety of contexts and applications. They feature easy-to-understand examples and interesting trivia and historical facts, and much of the required mathematics is included. There is a plenty of interesting topics in the book, and readers now have one place to look for a comprehensive treatment of the different approaches in the rating and ranking. This book is an excellent reading for everyone; readers might be sports enthusiasts, social choice theorists, mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, and college and high school teachers. Teachers will find quite easy way to extract material for a short module. Actually the authors have ``modularized'' the material in such way that very little in the book builds on prior material. The various chapters can be presented in nearly any order.