Golf Tour Pairings

[Alan Taylor]

I've done a quick tick sheet and it looks fantastic! Jus got to sort buggy order now so A1-5 don't go out at same time each day.
Many thanks!

 

[sjw]

Do you know what's funny? Or I found it funny anyway. I noticed that very clear and obvious pattern only after I'd finished it all. By round 3 and 4 I was doing it by trial and error, checking which opponents people hadn't had and writing them in one at a time... then when it was all finished I looked at it and noticed every column was magically in order. Must be something about how my brain works. A mathematician would have took one look at this problem and known to use those patterns straight away probably.

Yeah, see I work in engineering/programming, so I could sense that there was probably a pattern to it, but that it would be hard to code (without just implementing the pattern). I wasn't at all surprised to see that ChatGPT failed with it.

I tried to script it in Python, and the hard part is storing the state such that you can go back if you make a mistake. If you naively just pick combinations you can reach a point where the only option left to take for the final match doesn't meet the criteria.

To give Google's AI it's credit, it did say that it would be difficult, and to use a spreadsheet and do it manually lol. It didn't even attempt to solve.

 

[Orikoru]

Yeah, see I work in engineering/programming, so I could sense that there was probably a pattern to it, but that it would be hard to code (without just implementing the pattern). I wasn't at all surprised to see that ChatGPT failed with it.

I tried to script it in Python, and the hard part is storing the state such that you can go back if you make a mistake. If you naively just pick combinations you can reach a point where the only option left to take for the final match doesn't meet the criteria.

To give Google's AI it's credit, it did say that it would be difficult, and to use a spreadsheet and do it manually lol. It didn't even attempt to solve.

That's what I mean though - there would be plenty of people out there who'd say it's not difficult at all as they'd know exactly what pattern to use. After finishing it, it looks much easier than it was when I was doing it. That was my second attempt as well, in the first attempt I had the A team arranged in a different way and it didn't work when I started added the B team pairs.

 

[sjw]

That's what I mean though - there would be plenty of people out there who'd say it's not difficult at all as they'd know exactly what pattern to use. After finishing it, it looks much easier than it was when I was doing it. That was my second attempt as well, in the first attempt I had the A team arranged in a different way and it didn't work when I started added the B team pairs.

Yeah I think this example is quite straightforward with the numbers involved (not trying to belittle your work ) I think it just looked at it and said something like, "oh, this is a combinational problem, these can be quite hard"

Working out how many solutions there are is left as an exercise for the reader

EDIT: And yes, you can now be one of those people that say it's not hard!

Spotting patterns is something that humans are good at and computers famously aren't. It's why CAPTCHAs work

 

[abjectplop]

I can't believe I've actually done this when ChatGPT couldn't.


View attachment 56942


Feel free to check it and tell me I'm wrong.. but I think it's good?

They said "AI is coming for our jobs" but it's actually you taking them that we need to worry about

 

[timd77]

Does AI factor in politics, ie, this player won’t play with that player, if this player’s in that group then you can’t include xyz, x player’s a cheat so he needs to play with someone who’ll pull him up!

 

[rulie]

Does AI factor in politics, ie, this player won’t play with that player, if this player’s in that group then you can’t include xyz, x player’s a cheat so he needs to play with someone who’ll pull him up!

Reminds me of a situation years past when the ladies asked me (Club Captain) if I would make the draw for their annual tournament, and I said yes. Spent many hours getting everyone into groups according to handicap, players from out of town and in town, desired times for play etc. Lots of work, finally finished and presented the finished product to the ladies Captain. She looked at it and quickly said that, "This won't work. So and so can't play with so and so. Player A never plays with player Q." etc.
They hadn't explained all the rules/requirements for the draw. Back to the "drawing" board!