Paul
Posts:
258
Registered:
7/12/10
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Re: probability question about the dice game
Posted:
Feb 16, 2013 1:30 PM
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On Saturday, February 16, 2013 3:00:44 PM UTC, David C. Ullrich wrote:
> On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 05:45:37 -0800 (PST), pepstein5@gmail.com wrote:
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> >Staying with the theme of odds terminology, but moving away from the argument,
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> Giggle. Yes, now would be exactly the right time to "move away from
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> the argument".
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> Guffaw.
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I don't find it that hilarious. Obviously, I've been shown to be wrong about what standard usage is. When bookmakers say an event is "2 to 1" without qualifiers like "on" or "against", they mean that the probability is around 31%. I'm certainly surprised to hear people say that "The odds are 2 to 1 that it will rain" means a probability of 2/3. I wonder why no one says that the odds of winning the lottery are "one to millions"
Anyway, it's good that you find such things humorous. It's a lot cheaper than buying a comedy DVD. As a community, mathematicians have a really terrible sense of humour in my experience.
Paul Epstein
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