Overview

With an emphasis on mathematical thinking and problem solving, Mathematics in Games, Sports, and Gambling — The Games People Play shows how discrete probability, statistics, and elementary discrete mathematics are used in games, sports, and gambling situations. It draws on numerous examples, questions, and problems to explain the application of mathematical theory to various real-life games. Only requiring high school algebra, the text offers flexibility in choosing what material to cover in a basic mathematics course. It covers permutations in the two-deck matching game so derangements can be counted, introduces graphs to find matches when looking at extensions of the five-card trick, and studies lexicographic orderings and ideas of encoding for card tricks. The text also explores linear equations and weighted equations in the section on the NFL passer rating formula and presents graphing to show how data can be compared or displayed. For each topic, the author includes exercises based on real games and sports data.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ronald J. Gould (Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Inc
Imprint:   Taylor & Francis Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.658kg
ISBN:  

9781439801635

ISBN 10:   1439801630
Pages:   374
Publication Date:   01 August 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Replaced By:   9781498719520
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Basic Probability Introduction Of Dice and Men Probability The Laws Which Govern Us Poker Hands versus Batting Orders Let’s Play for Money! Is That Fair? The Odds Are against Us Things Vary Conditional Expectation The Game’s Afoot Applications to Games Counting and Probability in Poker Hands Roulette Craps Let’s Make A Deal — The Monty Hall Problem Carnival Games Other Casino Games Backgammon Repeated Play Introduction Binomial Coefficients The Binomial Distribution The Poisson Distribution Streaks — Are They Real? Betting Strategies The Gambler’s Ruin Card Tricks and More Introduction The Five-Card Trick The Two-Deck Matching Game More Tricks The Paintball Wars Dealing with Data Introduction Batting Averages and Simpson’s Paradox NFL Passer Ratings Viewing Data — Simple Graphs Confidence in Our Estimates Measuring Differences in Performance Testing and Relationships Introduction Suzuki versus Pujols I’ll Decide If I Believe That Are the Old Adages True? How Good Are Certain Measurements? Arguing over Outstanding Performances A Last Look at Comparisons Games and Puzzles Introduction Number Arrays The Tower of Hanoi Instant Insanity Lights Out Peg Games Combinatorial Games Introduction to Combinatorial Games Subtraction Games Nim Games as Digraphs Blue-Red Hackenbush Green Hackenbush Games as Numbers More about Nimbers Appendix Review of Elementary Set Theory Standard Normal Distribution Table Student’s t-Distribution Solutions to Problems Selected Even Exercises References Index

Reviews

A 2010 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title ...this volume is a wonderful reference for studying probability or statistics ... Though this book might serve as the seed for the development of a new mathematics course at some institutions, this reviewer sees its greater value as a reference for mathematicians who are unfamiliar with the probabilities associated with gambling or applying statistics in sports. -J.T. Noonan, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, CHOICE, Vol. 47, No. 9, May 2010

!this volume is a wonderful reference for studying probability or statistics ! Though this book might serve as the seed for the development of a new mathematics course at some institutions, this reviewer sees its greater value as a reference for mathematicians who are unfamiliar with the probabilities associated with gambling or applying statistics in sports. --J.T. Noonan, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, CHOICE, Vol. 47, No. 9, May 2010

Author Information

Ronald J. Gould is the Goodrich C. White Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Emory University. The recipient of the Mathematical Association of America’s Southeastern Section Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008, Dr. Gould has authored more than 135 research papers and serves on the editorial board of several journals dealing with discrete mathematics.

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