Odd Angles In Sports And Gambling
PARC Forum

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What are some of the odd questions and answers in the mathematics of sports and gambling? Are all sports contests equally exciting? In some sense, yes; from football to bowling on the radio, the swings of fortune are the same. Are games half over at half-time? Yes, again. But what does that mean? How high can onejump on the moon? Not six times as high, not even close. Can one beat the famous two-envelope problem bar bet? Yes. Do longer games favor the stronger player? Not necessarily. And what kind of quantum bar bet can you get out of Bell's inequality?