Who's #1?: The Science of Rating and Ranking Hardback - 2012

"Who's #1? is an excellent survey of the fundamental ideas behind mathematical rating systems. Once a realm of sports enthusiasts, ranking things is becoming a vital tool in many information-age applications. Langville and Meyer compare and contrast a variety of models, explaining the mathematical foundations and motivation. Readers of this book will be inspired to further explore this exciting field."--Kenneth Massey, Massey Ratings

"Langville and Meyer provide a rigorous yet lighthearted tour through the landscape of ratings methodologies. This is an enjoyable read that looks at ratings through the lens of sports, but also touches on how ratings affect our everyday lives through movies, Web search, online shopping, and other applications."--Chris Volinsky, member of the winning Netflix Prize team

"Who's #1? provides a much-needed synthesis of the methods used for ranking and rating things like sports teams, movies, politicians, and more. There is a ton of interest in this topic, and readers now have one place to look for a comprehensive treatment of the different approaches."--Wayne L. Winston, author of Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football

"This highly accessible book gives readers a comprehensive account of the different mathematical ranking techniques across many different disciplines, and will appeal to everyone from researchers to sports statistics junkies."--Sep Kamvar, author of Numerical Algorithms for Personalized Search in Self-organizing Information Networks