Who Thought Maths Could Be This Fun?
Friday, 17 March 2006
There are always complaints about what kids are studying at college
these days: does watching movies all day constitute work for a film
studies degree? Is kite flying actually going to help you get a
decent job? But at the University of Georgia, one professor has
been offering a class called “How To Gamble If You Must” aimed at
tackling the endemic problem of teenage gambling in the United
States but also using statistics and probability to show students
how to rake in that extra cash to pay off fees (or simply spend on
partying.
Lynne Seymour, who teaches statistics, gives lectures on the
probability of certain cards and situations to her 15 students and
then follows them with games of Texas Hold ‘Em to see how much
they’ve learned. With the knowledge that there is more than a 50%
chance that they’ll get nothing in their first hand, students have
become masters of bluff and what Lynne calls optimal betting. The
plan is to hold an end of semester tourney, with the winner getting
off of the final class paper. Now surely that’s what being at
school is all about.