After you've run the program and examined the text output, you'll want to see the plots. The program outputs three files: ratings.pov, point_spread.pov, and gold.pov. These are all text files that contain programming code in a language that is understood by the freeware POV-Ray image creation software package. You can get POV-Ray at www.povray.org and then once installed, you should be able to double-click on a *.pov file to load it up in the POV-Ray program - at least that's how it works on a Mac, I don't know about other operating systems. Once in the POV-Ray program, select "render" from one of the pull-down menus and you will get an image. By exploring the pulldowns you can figure out how to change the image size or how to create an animation from the image. The gold.pov and point_spread.pov files both have animations, but the ratings.pov file does not. So what are the plots about? Well, the ratings plot shows the history of the rating of each team throughout the database. It can be customized to show all of the teams or just a few specific teams, and it has a funky "opponent_ratings" feature that you will probably never need. The point spread plot shows you a visualization of point-spread space and also the gaussian index. Finally, the gold plot is a humorous but useful plot of the profit history of pretend bets made by the program. The plots can be adjusted to show different data, and the control for that is at the very beginning of the program in the following lines: $range = 40; # +/- size of the gaussian plot $resolution = 1; # smallest size of triangle to draw $plot_vertical_bars = 0; # plot the vertical bars in the point spread graph, 0 = no, 1 = yes $plot_spiders = 1; # plot nearest neighbor lines, 0 = no, 1 = yes $plot_opponent_ratings = 0; # plot line to opponent's ratings on ratings plot, 0 = no, 1 = yes $plot_gaussian = 1; # plot the gaussian distributions, 0 = no, 1 = yes # specify which teams to draw on ratings plot, null list for all teams # note that bet games that are being predicted will be added to the plot @draw_lines = qw(all); # plot all teams on ratings plot #@draw_lines = qw(NCAR NCST DUKE); # plot prediction bet games, or all games if no prediction bet games Let's take a look at these controls one at a time. $range = 40; # +/- size of the gaussian plot This determines the +/- size of the plotting field. Unfortunately it is not properly implemented so don't change it. I know, I know, a proper program should be fully scaleable and stuff like that, look to a later release to get this fixed. $resolution = 1; # smallest size of triangle to draw The resolution is how finely shaped the gaussian index ploto is, and should be left at 1. $plot_vertical_bars = 0; # plot the vertical bars in the point spread graph, 0 = no, 1 = yes Set this to 1 if you want to see the vertical bars on the point spread plot. $plot_spiders = 1; # plot nearest neighbor lines, 0 = no, 1 = yes Set to 1 to see nearest neighbor connectivity. $plot_opponent_ratings = 0; # plot line to opponent's ratings on ratings plot, 0 = no, 1 = yes This feature draws a line to the opponents rating at each game on the point spread plot. It is only marginally useful and i suggest you leave it at 0. $plot_gaussian = 1; # plot the gaussian distributions, 0 = no, 1 = yes 1 draws a fancy gaussian plot, 0 reverts to standard point spread plot. Both are useful and interesting. # specify which teams to draw on ratings plot, null list for all teams # note that bet games that are being predicted will be added to the plot @draw_lines = qw(all); # plot all teams on ratings plot Use this line if you want to see all teams plotted in the ratings plot #@draw_lines = qw(NCAR NCST DUKE); # plot prediction bet games, or all games if no prediction bet games Do something like the above to see just a few specific teams.