Forget debates, town halls, and press stops, one local professor says the outcome of the election is all in the numbers. Specifically, a statistical math equation.
Thanks to statistics, Francis Marion University Dr. Richard Almeida said numerical values given to three factors.
"It looks at the economy, the president's approval or lack there of, and wether or not the president is running for re-election," he said.
And the equation calculates who is going to win this November.
"This model predicts that the President should get about 50.8 percent of the vote nationwide," he said.
Math has long been used to predict things like the stock market. Even the movie Moneyball-based on a true story-showed us how stats changed baseball when a team picked their players by analytical, math equations.
That moneyball math, sabermetrics, is also used by statistician Nate Silver. His five-thirty eight blog uses numbers from polls and comparative demographic data to predict daily results of a hypothetical election.
Silver's results-same as the equation Almeida uses.
This is just a prediction. Students in Almedia's class thinks several other factors will play into the election.
"The deciding factor I think is going to come down to who has the best face," Joshua Dover said.
"Women may decide the deciding factor, or may be the deciding factor," Phyllis Driggers said. She also added voting is more than just math.
"They could walk into the voting booth and change their mind at the very last second. I don't think you can use a math equation," she said.
