Math Help - Payout Formula?

1. Payout Formula?

hi everyone, i'm trying to create a tournament payout formula and I've made some progress but I'm stuck here. 1 in 5 people who enter the tournament should win \$. My formula works to that extent, but I'd like to make the payout difference between 1st and 2nd place, 2nd and 3rd place, etc. to be a bigger difference. To be more clear I'd like the users who finish highest in the tournament to get more of the purse then users toward the bottom. Can anyone help me out?

My formula here: http://site452.mysite4now.net/razzi8...90/formula.xls

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

2. Let me clarify a little:

i = the position they finish in the tournament
A = total pot size
payout(i) = 2 / (N+1) - 2(i-1) / (N*(N+1))

need to get a payout scale that increases more sharply as you get to the winner.

3. If you are paying the top five from a total purse of $A$, then why use a complicated formula? Ditch the formula and use percentages like this:

1) $\frac{16}{31}$
2) $\frac{8}{31}$
3) $\frac{4}{31}$
4) $\frac{2}{31}$
5) $\frac{1}{31}$

4. Originally Posted by colby2152
If you are paying the top five from a total purse of $A$, then why use a complicated formula? Ditch the formula and use percentages like this:

1) $\frac{16}{31}$
2) $\frac{8}{31}$
3) $\frac{4}{31}$
4) $\frac{2}{31}$
5) $\frac{1}{31}$
I'm not paying top 5 i'm paying the top 20% of the field. Also, your answer is fine if I have a fixed number of entries... but I don't. The formula needs to be dynamic in that it takes into account a different number of entries for each tournament AND like I said in the previous post the payout scale increases as you get closer to the winner. The calculation has to be done on the fly based on the # of entries.

5. Hey everyone . I am new to this forum and I am trying to do the same thing. I did not see where this thread was finished. Can someone help me with a forumla to pay 1 out of 4?

Thanks!
Tony

6. Formula for payout

7. Hi,

I am also new to the forum... what I am looking is a payout formula to pay all the places. From first place to last place... that the last place would get at least their entry fee back.

Thanks ahead of time for any help.