The mathematics of games and gambling

Author(s)

• Packel, Edward W.

Bibliographic Information

The mathematics of games and gambling

by Edward W. Packel

（New mathematical library, 28）

Mathematical Association of America, c1981

• pbk.

Note

Bibliography: p. [136]-137

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

You can't lose with this MAA Book Prize winner if you want to see how mathematics can be used to analyze games of chance and skill. Roulette, craps, blackjack, backgammon, poker, bridge, lotteries and horse races are considered here in a way that reveals their mathematical aspects. The tools used include probability, expectation, and game theory. No prerequisites are needed beyond high school algebra. No book can guarantee good luck, but this book will show you what determines the best bet in a game of chance or the optimal strategy in a strategic game. Besides being an excellent supplement to a course on probability and good bed-side reading, this book's treatment of lotteries should save the reader some money.

Table of Contents

• 1. The phenomenon of gambling
• 2. Finite probabilities and great expectations
• 3. Backgammon and other dice diversions
• 4. Permutations, combinations and applications
• 5. Play it again, Sam: the binomial distribution
• 6. Elementary game theory
• 7. Odds and ends.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA04930482
• ISBN:
  • 088385628X
• LCCN: 80085037
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Washington
• Pages/Volumes: x, 141 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : QA271
  • DC19 : 519.3
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Games of chance (Mathematics)
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00764927