Chapter 72. Fun and Games: Simulating Gambling and Sporting Event Probabilities

Questions answered in this chapter:

  • What is the probability of winning at craps?

  • In five-card draw poker, what is the probability of getting three of a kind?

  • Going into the NCAA basketball Final Four, what is the probability of each team winning the tournament?

Gambling and following sporting events are popular pastimes. I think gambling and sports are exciting because you never know what’s going to happen. Monte Carlo simulation is a powerful tool that you can use to approximate gambling and sporting event probabilities. Essentially, you estimate probability by playing out a gambling or sporting event situation multiple times. If, for example, you have Microsoft Excel ...

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