The Bowl Championship Series: A Mathematical Review

We discuss individual components of the college football Bowl Championship Series, compare with a simple algorithm defined by random walks on a biased graph, attempt to predict whether the proposed changes will truly lead to increased BCS bowl access for non-BCS schools, and conclude by arguing that the true problem with the BCS Standings lies not in the computer algorithms, but rather in misguided addition.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Notices of the AM

The Rhodes semilattice of a biased graph

We reinterpret the Rhodes semilattices $R_n(\mathfrak{G})$ of a group $\mathfrak{G}$ in terms of gain graphs and generalize them to all gain graphs, both as sets of partition-potential pairs and as sets of subgraphs, and for the latter, further to biased graphs. Based on this we propose four different natural lattices in which the Rhodes semilattices and its generalizations are order ideals.Comment: 7 p

Graphical representations of graphic frame matroids

A frame matroid M is graphic if there is a graph G with cycle matroid isomorphic to M. In general, if there is one such graph, there will be many. Zaslavsky has shown that frame matroids are precisely those having a representation as a biased graph; this class includes graphic matroids, bicircular matroids, and Dowling geometries. Whitney characterized which graphs have isomorphic cycle matroids, and Matthews characterised which graphs have isomorphic graphic bicircular matroids. In this paper, we give a characterization of which biased graphs give rise to isomorphic graphic frame matroids