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Amazon.co.uk Review
John Haigh is Reader in Mathematics at Sussex University and his book covers a remarkably large number of topics. He tells you how to take chances playing the football pools and about the role of chance in sports such as tennis, golf, cricket and soccer. What points in tennis are most important? If a footballer gets a yellow card in 10 percent of games and is suspended for one game whenever he has accumulated two yellow cards, how often is he suspended? What is the chance that a team that scores the first goal goes on to win? He also writes about casino games, bridge and Monopoly, explaining why orange is the best colour of Monopoly property to own.
The book is practical rather than theoretical. It is written for anyone with a curious mind, aged perhaps 16 and up. It is not a textbook, but introduces concepts, such as random walk and game theory, that are familiar to professional mathematicians. There are technical appendices and test-yourself-quizzes for readers who want to explore more. A bonus is advice on the National Lotteries. Haig will help you choose UK National Lottery numbers that are more likely to give you a large prize. However, with typical vividness, he cautions that if the Lottery had begun with the ancient druids, and your ancestors had bought 50 tickets every week for the last 5000 years, then by now your family could expect to have won the jackpot just once! --Richard Weber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Haigh, a cheerful Yorkshireman in his late fifties . . . is on a roll at the moment . . . After 33 years at the University of Sussex, where he's Reader in Mathematics and Statistics, he has belatedly risen from the academic ranks this year to become that most envied of creatures: a media don. His recently published book . . . has proved an unlikely hit that could well change his life. . . . For a start, you can see at a glance that Haigh, while respectable, is not rich. His trousers have seen better days . . . He may know how to beat the system, but he doesn't appear to have done so. In fact, . . . Haigh never gambles . . . Is gambling a mug's game, then? 'Not necessarily. Some people make money from gambling. And some people who don't make money from gambling are none the less often acting sensibly . . .' Haigh offers a golden rule: 'In an unfavourable game bet boldly, in a favourable game bet timidly.'"--The Independent on Sunday
"This text will appeal greatly to those who en --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Gambling adepts who mostly don't have a clue about the real odds, or miscalculate odds, might find this book very enlightening (or depressing depending on your preassumptions who are most likely to get smashed after reading this book).
If you are a mathphobic, you'll find the explications clear without being simplistic, and the practical value is excellent.
Adding an appendix in which all the calculations or concepts are mathematically backed up is an excellent surplus. This way, you can adopt the formula's needed to many different questions which involve getting a clear objective view on chance in a wide range of fields.
The title however, might bring false hope to the desperate ones. If anything, the author prooves beyond reasonable doubt how low the odds are exactly you could actually win big in popular gambling games such as the lottery or casino games.
In other cases, like investment, or sports betting, applying the knowledge in this book could be profitable. But, as the name 'probabilitytheory' implies: probability does not equal certainty. However, if you decide to gamble, one can better maximise his chances, what this book will teach you.
If you, like me, thought math and stats were simply not your cup of tea, have no fear. You won't be banging your head against the wall struggling with complicated formula's of which you are trying to figure out the symbols used. The author understands very well the art of explaining the complex in an approachable way which will keep you interested.
If you are a layman and would only buy one book on probabilitytheory, but can not decide which one: I can promise you from what I have read myself so far:
this is surely a very good way to start.
The nice thing about this book is that it proposes ways to turn a profit from each discovery (it doesn't work, but it's the right attitude). Along with probability theory the book has interesting factoids on most of the popular gambles in the UK.
There are some suprising ommissions: The financial markets are not mentioned. He has a long discussion of the number patterns chosen in large lotteries like the British Lotto, but he never calculates whether these leave the less popular combination under-invested enough to show a profit (they don't).
Like the author I was suprised by the results of his investigation into sequences. This chapter, detailing patterns in coin-flip series, is the best thing here and might teach you something even if you're an expert.
I can't give five stars here because some of the later chapters are overburdened with technical calculations that are just refinements of earlier material. I would have liked less of this detail and even more breadth.
As you would expect from an expert in his area of study, John Haig has the answers to a wide range of tricky probability problems up his sleeve and can take you through the solutions to them as painlessly as possible. However I often read books written by experts that are less than a joy to read. The key to writing a book like this - and something that John Haig really seems to have grasped - is not just knowing the answers, it's also knowing the questions that your audience will find interesting.
Highly recommended.
Produced by Oxford University press - the guy is into maths and statistics - but writes well and shows how to use probability in... Read more
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