OCR Text |
Show Keeping Up Wit&ciene By j ci onto Scrx vcc ScuMWf Service. WNU So e vie. Even if Dice Arc Not Loaded, You'll Lose in the Lonr Run Gambling Otitis Figureil Out by Mathematician Princeton, N. J. Prof. John Von Neumann, Institute for Advanced Study mathematician, mathemati-cian, even applies his science to the gambling table. He has warned Princeton students in a lecture that It is impossible to win at dice over long periods, whether the "ivories" are loaded or not. The magic "seven-eleven"' combination com-bination is by far the most frequent throw, he said, but if it doesn't turn up on the first cast, the chances are reversed, and the stakes are as good as lost. I "That leaves a .450 winning av- erage. so the game is not fair," he ! declared. "Stone-paper-scissors," a form of gambling that originated among bored convicts and is as old as chess, is Prof. Von Neumann's spe-j spe-j cialty. This well-known game is won I by making each play the same num- j ber of times, but at random, and ! your opponent will lose in the long run." He termed the intellectual pursuit I of chess to be merely a game of j chance, and said that "white." ! which has the first move, can al- ways win. although "if 'black' is j wise to the theory, he can play j defensively and tie vhite.' " Two Kinds of Games. ! Prof. Von Neumann divided "games of chance" into two cate- goriest those like dice where ex-j ex-j plicit hazards are introduced b y I rules, and those like chess, poker, ! and "stone-paper-scissors," where ' chance is introduced by what the j opponent does. "In the latter type intellectual j reasoning is sometimes needed, I while in the former no decision is required except whether to bet," he ; pointed out. ! In the case of dice, he showed that since 7 can be thrown in six ' ways ar.d 11 in two, while 2, 3, and ! 12 result from only one or two com- binations. the conditions are favor- ! able to win on the first throw. But j if "seven-eleven" is missed, repeti tion of the first throw is unlikely, and the seven is now working ; against the player. The net eSect is against the player, i Chances in Poker. ! In poker, which he had to simplify ! - considerably to be able to analyze, Prof. Von Neumann stated that chances are one out of 300,000,000 ' to obtain any certain combination of , five cards, although several dif- ; ferent combinations satisfy the , straight, flush, full-house or four of a kind. The study of probability in games is mere recreation with Prof. Von Neumann, who has devised "continuous "con-tinuous geometry," specialized in mathematical physics, and written an "elementary theory of quantum mechanics." |