The Mathematics of GamblingLearn more about probability so that you are better able to make informed choices. |
The coin is biased. It has a 60% chance of landing heads up and a 40% chance of landing tails up. You have the following amount of money to play with:
Place your bet using the panel below.
Type the amount of your wager below.
£
Which side of the coin will you bet on?
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Mathematicians are not the people who find Maths easy; they are the people who enjoy how mystifying, puzzling and hard it is. Are you a mathematician? Comment recorded on the 14 September 'Starter of the Day' page by Trish Bailey, Kingstone School: "This is a great memory aid which could be used for formulae or key facts etc - in any subject area. The PICTURE is such an aid to remembering where each number or group of numbers is - my pupils love it! Comment recorded on the 28 May 'Starter of the Day' page by L Smith, Colwyn Bay: "An absolutely brilliant resource. Only recently been discovered but is used daily with all my classes. It is particularly useful when things can be saved for further use. Thank you!" |
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Numeracy"Numeracy is a proficiency which is developed mainly in Mathematics but also in other subjects. It is more than an ability to do basic arithmetic. It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers and measures. It requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques, and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial problems in a range of contexts. Numeracy also demands understanding of the ways in which data are gathered by counting and measuring, and presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables." Secondary National Strategy, Mathematics at key stage 3 |
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© Transum Mathematics :: This activity can be found online at:
www.Transum.org/go/?Num=810
This activity represents an experiment conducted to test people's understanding of probability by two investment fund managers.
The Economist reported that Victor Haghani and Rich Dewey invited 61 people, a combination of college-age students in finance and economics and some young professionals at finance firms (including 14 who worked for fund managers), to take a test. They were each given a stake of $25 and then asked to bet on a coin that would land heads 60% of the time. The prizes were real, although capped at $250.
Remarkably, 28% of the participants went bust, and the average payout was just $91. Only 21% of the participants reached the maximum. 18 of the 61 participants bet everything on one toss, while two-thirds gambled on tails at some stage in the experiment. Neither approach is in the least bit optimal.
The best strategy was devised by J. L. Kelly, Jr, a researcher at Bell Labs, in 1956. The idea of this simulation is for players to work towards finding what this best strategy might be. Good luck.
Just for fun, if you accumulate over £1000 you will be awarded with a trophy for being skillful and lucky.
Close
Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.
Exam Style Questions - A collection of problems in the style of GCSE or IB/A-level exam paper questions (worked solutions are available for Transum subscribers).
More on probability including lesson Starters, visual aids, investigations and self-marking exercises.
Did you know that Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat invented probability theory in 1654 to solve a gambling problem?
WARNING: In the real world commercial gambling operations have a much smaller change of you winning money than this simulation. For more information about the dangers of gambling see RaisingChildren.net.
Transum,
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
"The International Baccalaureate syllabus document suggests topics for discussion such as 'can calculation of gambling probabilities be considered an ethical application of mathematics?' and 'should mathematicians be held responsible for unethical applications of their work?'."
Sheila Camp,
Saturday, July 17, 2021
"AddictionResouce.net is a company dedicated to helping those who struggle with addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions. They provide resources for those in need as well as information on how to help loved ones struggling with these issues. Their goal is to make the world a better place by making it easier for everyone to talk about their struggles without fear of judgment or stigma on addiction.
There is an informational guide at https://www.addictionresource.net/behavioral-addictions/gambling/ "
Helen, Sydney
Friday, September 16, 2022
"This was good until my students discovered "spamming the button" like crazy caused them win thousands of pounds.
[Transum: Thanks for the feedback Helen. By "spamming the button" do you mean clicking the button repeatedly very quickly? I have tried that and the only affect it has is to speed up the process. It doesn't change the probabilities at all]"