Games, Gambling, and Probability: An Introduction to Mathematics

ISBN-13: 9780367820435 / Angielski / Twarda / 2021 / 516 str.

David G. Taylor

Opis

The goal for this textbook is to complement the inquiry-based learning movement. According to the author, concepts and ideas will stick with the reader more when they are motivated in an interesting way. Topics are presented mathematically as questions about the games themselves are posed.

Spis treści

1. Mathematics and Probability. 1.1. Introduction. 1.2. About Mathematics. 1.3. Probability. 1.4. Candy (Yum)! 1.5. Exercises. 2. Roulette and Craps: Expected Value. 2.1. Roulette. 2.2. Summations. 2.3. Craps. 2.4. Exercises. 3. Counting: Poker Hands. 3.1. Cards and Counting. 3.2. Seven Card Pokers. 3.3. Texas Hold'Em. 3.4. Exercises. 4. More Dice: Counting and Combinations, and Statistics. 4.1. Liar's Dice. 4.2. Arkham Horror. 4.3. Yahtzee. 4.4. Exercises. 5. Game Theory: Poker Bluffing and Other Games. 5.1. Bluffing. 5.2. Game Theory Basics. 5.3. Non-Zero Sum Games. 5.4. Three-Player Game Theory. 5.5. Exercises. 6. Probability/Stochastic Matrices: Board Game Movement. 6.1. Board Game Movement. 6.2. Pay Day (The Board Game). 6.3. Monopoly. 6.4. Spread, Revisited. 6.5. Exercises. 7. Sports Mathematics: Probability Meets Athletics. 7.1. Sports Betting. 7.2. Game Theory and Sports. 7.3. Probability Matrices and Sports. 7.4. Winning a Tennis Tournament. 7.5. Repeated Play: Best of Seven. 7.6. Exercises 8. Blackjack: Previous Methods Revisited. 8.1. Blackjack. 8.2. Blackjack Variants. 8.3. Exercises. 9. A Mix of Other Games. 9.1. The Lottery. 9.2. Bingo. 9.3. Uno. 9.4. Baccarat. 9.5. Farkle. 9.6. Scrabble. 9.7. Backgammon. 9.8. Memory. 9.9. Zombie Dice. 9.10. Exercises. 10. Betting Systems: Can You Beat the System? 10.1. Betting Systems. 10.2. Gambler's Ruin. 10.3. Exercises. 11. Potpourri: Assorted Adventures in Probability. 11.1. True Randomness? 11.2. Three Dice "Craps". 11.3. Counting "Fibonacci" Coins "Circularly". 11.4. Compositions and Probabilities. 11.5. Sicherman Dice. 11.6. Traveling Salesmen. 11.7. Random Walks and Generating Functions. 11.8. More Probability! Appendices. Index.

O autorze

Dr. David G. Taylor is a professor of mathematics and an associate dean for academic affairs at Roanoke College in southwest Virginia. He attended Lebanon Valley College for his B.S. in computer science and mathematics and went to the University of Virginia for his Ph.D. While his graduate school focus was on studying infinite dimensional Lie algebras, he started studying the mathematics of various games in order to have a more undergraduate-friendly research agenda. Work done with two Roanoke College students, Heather Cook and Jonathan Marino, appears in this book! Currently he owns over 100 different board games and enjoys using probability in his decision-making while playing most of those games. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, cooking, coding, playing his board games, and spending time with his six-year-old dog Lilly.