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Calculated Bets describes a gambling system that works. Steven Skiena, a jai-alai enthusiast and computer scientist, documents how he used computer simulations and modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and increased his initial stake by 544% in one year. Skiena demonstrates how his jai-alai system functions like a stock trading system, and includes examples of how gambling and mathematics interact in program trading systems, how mathematical models are used in political polling, and what the future holds for Internet gambling. With humor and enthusiasm, Skiena explains computer predictions used in business, sports, and politics, and the difference between correlation and causation. An unusual presentation of how mathematical models are designed, built, and validated, Calculated Bets also includes a list of modeling projects with online data sources. Steven Skiena, Associate Professor of Computer Science at SUNY Stony Brook, is the author of The Algorithm Design Manual (Springer-Verlag, 1997) and the EDUCOM award-winning Computational Discrete Mathematics. He is the recipient of the ONR Young Investigator's Award and the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stony Brook. His research interests include discrete mathematics and its applications, particularly the design of graph, string, and geometric algorithms
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CALCULATED BETS: COMPUTERS, GAMBLING, AND MATHEMATICAL MODELING TO WIN Steven Skiena CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CALCULATED BETS Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win This is a book about a gambling system that works. It tells how the author used computer simulations and mathematical-modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai alai matches and bet on them successfully, thus increasing his initial stake by over 500 percent in one year! His methods can work for anyone; at the end of the book he tells the best way to watch jai alai and how to bet on it. With humor and enthusiasm, Skiena details a life-long fascination with the computer prediction of sporting events. Along the way, he discusses other gambling systems, both successful and unsuccessful, for such games as lotto, roulette, blackjack, and the stock market. Indeed, he shows how his jai alai system functions like a miniature stock-trading system. Do you want to learn about program trading systems, the future of Internet gambling, and the real reason brokerage houses do not offer mutual funds that invest at racetracks and frontons? How mathematical models are used in political polling? The difference between correlation and causation? If you are interested in gambling and mathematics, odds are this is the book for you! Steven Skiena is Professor of Computer Science at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is the author of two popular books, The Algorithm Design Manual and the award-winning Computational Discrete Mathematics, a new edition of which is being published by Cambridge University Press. He is the recipient of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator’s Award and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stony Brook. i OUTLOOKS PUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS AND THE MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Mathematical content is not confined to mathematics. Eugene Wigner noted the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the physical sciences. Deep mathematical structures also exist in areas as diverse as genetics and art, finance and music. The discovery of these mathematical structures has in turn inspired new questions within pure mathematics. In the Outlooks series, the interplay between mathematics and other disciplines is explored. Authors reveal mathematical content, limitations, and new questions arising from this interplay, providing a provocative and novel view for mathematicia