Mathematics in Predicting Volleyball Victory

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Rationale

I have decided to focus this mathematical investigation on volleyball. I have always enjoyed playing volleyball as a sport and I wanted to see if it would be possible to use mathematics to predict if I could win after being a certain amount of points behind my opponent. After doing some research, I noticed that even though it is possible to calculate the basic probability of winning after losing for a few points, there are still many variables that may affect the actual outcome of the game. Thus, I decided that I wanted to focus on one specific aspect of volleyball that would actually help me become a better volleyball player. The technique that I ended up choosing is serving because serving is one of the most basic ways that can …show more content…

By disregarding the difference in force and the presence of air resistance, we can find an equation that determines the pathway of the ball. In this case, our definition of a good serve is set as one that is as close to the net as possible. Using this definition, we can find the favorable angle to serve a ball at different heights.

Determining the Equation of the Parabola

From the point where the ball is served to its position above the net and to the point where it falls to the ground creates a pathway that represents a parabola. We can then use a parabola to represent the movement of the ball. By setting the volleyball plane as a coordinate plane, with the net as the y-axis and the ground as the x-axis, we can determine the three points as the position of the ball.

Figure 3: Volleyball Court As a Coordinate Plane

The function of the parabola can be represented with y = ax2 + bx + c. The position where the ball is served is (x1, y1), the position of the ball right above the net is (x2, y2), and the position where the ball lands on the ground is (x3, y3). From these three points, we can derive a system of

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