Lottery-Winning Maths

00:00 // Introduction to Games of Chance
00:12 // Can Mathematics Help Us Win?
00:14 // The Origins of Probability Theory
00:21 // Why You Shouldn’t Buy a British Lottery Ticket on Monday
00:26 // How Voltaire Used Math to Win the Lottery
00:34 // The History and Advantages of Dice Games
00:55 // A Popular Dice Game in France
01:18 // Understanding the Probability of Rolling a Six
02:01 // Calculating the Probability of Winning a Dice Bet
03:29 // The Mistake in Antoine’s Gambling Strategy
05:02 // Pascal and Fermat’s Contributions to Probability
07:02 // The Problem of Points in Gambling
08:41 // Common Mistakes in Probability
10:15 // The Gambler’s Fallacy and Randomness
12:56 // Why Blackjack is Beatable and Roulette is Not
15:25 // The History of Lotteries
17:35 // Understanding Lottery Odds
20:42 // Strategies to Maximize Lottery Winnings
22:31 // Conclusion

The field of probability started when a French nobleman asked the mathematician Blaise Pascal to solve a dispute for him about a game consisting of throwing a pair of dice 24 times. Pascal discussed this and other problems with fellow mathematician Pierre de Fermat, in a series of letters in which they arrived at the basic principles of probability theory.

This lecture looks at dice, cards, lotteries, and other games of chance. Can mathematics help us win?

A lecture by Sarah Hart recorded on 31 January 2023 at David Game College, London.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/l...

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