Soccermatics: Mathematical Adventures in the Beautiful Game Pro-Edition (Bloomsbury Sigma)

by: David Sumpter (Author)

Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma

Publication Date: 9 Mar. 2017

Language: English

Print Length: 352 pages

ISBN-10: 9781472924148

ISBN-13: 9781472924148

Book Description

‘Football looked at in a very different way’ Pat Nevin, former Chelsea and Everton star and football media analystFootball – the most mathematical of sports. From shot statistics and league tables to the geometry of passing and managerial strategy, the mode game is filled with numbers, pattes and shapes. How do we make sense of them? The answer lies in the mathematical models applied in biology, physics and economics. Soccermatics brings football and mathematics together in a mind-bending synthesis, using numbers to help reveal the inner workings of the beautiful game.This new and expanded edition analyses the current big-name players and teams using mathematics, and meets the professionals working inside football who use numbers and statistics to boost performance.Welcome to the world of mathematical modelling, expressed brilliantly by David Sumpter through the prism of football. No matter who you follow – from your local non-league side to the big boys of the Premiership, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A or the MLS – you’ll be amazed at what mathematics has to teach us about the world’s favourite sport.
Review Sumpter’s deconstruction of formations proved why maths and football can’t live without each other. It’s every football nerd’s dream. ― FourFourTwoA fascinating and entertaining dive into the mathematics of the beautiful game. ― The Guardian…Highly readable… ― The Irish Times…You will love this book. ― The TribuneThis is football looked at in a very different way. David Sumpter is mining a rich and deep seam here in Soccermatics, one that will become an increasingly important part of the game. — Pat Nevin, former Chelsea and Everton star and football media analystA fascinating study of the structures and pattes that underpin football matches, with revealing and surprising conclusions. — Michael Cox, editor of Zonal Marking and Guardian SportsSoccermatics provides fresh insight into a game we’ve been watching all of our lives. But it’s more than a book about football and is all the better for it. — Adam Bate, football features writer for Sky SportsDavid Sumpter brings together his two passions, mathematics and football, in a highly original and entertaining way. The beautiful game illustrated through the beauty of mathematics. — Philip Maini FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford Book Description New and expanded pro-edition looking at mathematics and football – together they are much more than just a game
About the Author
David Sumpter is professor of applied mathematics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, where he runs the Collective Behaviour Research Group. Originally from London, he studied his PhD in Mathematics at Manchester and held academic research positions at both Oxford and Cambridge before heading to Sweden, where he lives with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he trains a successful 9-year old boys’ football team, Uppsala IF 2005.An incomplete list of the applied maths research projects on which David has worked includes pigeons flying in pairs over Oxford; clapping undergraduate students in the north of England; the traffic of Cuban leaf-cutter ants; fish swimming between coral in the Great Barrier Reef; swarms of locusts traveling across the Sahara; disease-spread in Ugandan villages; the gaze of London commuters; dancing honey bees from Sydney; and the tubular structures built by Japanese slime moulds. His research has appeared in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Proceedings of the Royal Society, among many others. @soccermatics / www.david-sumpter.com Read more