Quote:
Originally Posted by whosnext
Not sure what you are asking.
There are clearly C(13,3) = 286 unpaired flops where only the ranks matter. Median can be said to occur at either flop number 143 or 144. In an ordering of three unpaired ranks, we'd see that flop number 143 is Q94 and flop number 144 is Q93 (where flop #1 is AKQ and flop #286 is 432). It's not hard to confirm these numbers using math or a spreadsheet.
Burke seems to be using the fact that there are 4^3 = 64 actual flops for each flop category where suits are taken into account. The he counts in chunks of 64 until he reaches the middle (or as close as he can come).
Some people count "up" to find a median and some people count "down" to find a median. Of course, it doesn't really matter and only is relevant if you have an even number of items which we do here.
Not sure if that helps.
Helped a lot thanks. Linked the article which isn't web available anymore also.