Connections Between Mathematics and Blackjack

Connections between Mathematics and Blackjack Using the idea of probability to describe the outcomes of real life phenomena has been an invaluable tool for many different fields. The concern of the present discussion is blackjack. Though to some a seemingly trivial topic, the use of probabilistic strategies in blackjack and other gambling games has earned many players a fair amount of reward (Thompson, 2009). Indeed, some of the earliest applications of probability were motivated by gambling games (Jardine, 2000). In blackjack, the use of probability underlies the popular strategy of card counting, in which one keeps track of the current probabilities of the next deal (Thompson, 2009; Berlekamp, 2005). Hence, the present discussion will first briefly overview probability in relation to random events and then present its applications to blackjack. In drawing connections between mathematics, more specific to our case, probability, and blackjack first requires the definition of how random events and probability relate to outcomes of random events. Probability can be defined as the way in which mathematics describes randomness. Something is considered to be random if the individual outcomes of that something are subject to uncertainty but in the long run a pattern emerges, such that many of the individual outcomes can be predicted. Hence, a random event is an individual event whose outcome is considered to be uncertain. The use of probability in discerning the outcomes of random events is essentially not to be able to predict the outcomes of specific random events, but rather to be able to predict the frequency of occurrences of different outcomes, given a large aggregate of the events. Thus, the probability of a random event is the proportion of the occurrences of that event over the total number of potential times it could have occurred (Garfunkel, 2000). It is indeed a curious truth that the total frequency distribution of outcomes of many thousands of chance

References: Berlekamp, Elwyn. Mathematics: Bettor Math. American Scientist. Vol. 93, Issue 6 (556). Nov/Dec. 2005. p556-558. Retrieved from: http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/bettor-math Garfunkel, Solomon (project director). For All Practical Purposes. W.H. Freeman Company, New York, 2000. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com/books?id=ehlk3RCQXg4C&lpg=PP1&dq=fo r%20all%20practical%20purposes&pg=PA277#v=onepage&q&f=false Jardine, Dick. “Looking At Probability Through A Historical Lens”. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School ; Sep2000, Vol. 6 Issue 1, p50, 3p, 1 diagram, 1bw. Wilson Omni File. Thomson, Helen. “Maths of Gambling: What 's Luck Got to Do With It?” New Scientist , 8/8/2009, Vol. 203 Issue 2720, p35- 39, 5p.