What are the odds.....(Math 1512--Week 3)

This week my math course is all about calculating the odds and finding the probability of something. When I think of the odds, I think bad luck. You always hear phrases such as, "odds are..." or "the odds are against him." I also think of gambling. Come on, you were totally thinking about it too! I've always wanted that special talent to count cards. When I go to the casino, I try to remember how many Queens have come up or how many Aces I've seen. Don't laugh, we've all had that dream of hitting it big at the casino and never having to work again!

And then there's the slot machines! Don't even get me started on them. I refuse to try at those machines. It's a machine! I would much rather be playing Black Jack or Texas Hold 'Em. I think it is because there is no rhyme or reason to those machines. There's no pattern and there's no way to calculate the odds. I'm the type of person who feels much more secure if I know what the chances are of something happening. I think this would be the best way to approach this topic in my classroom. Obviously, I am not going to encourage gambling but applying odds and probability to games can be fun interesting. Simple things like what number you could roll on the dice or what kind of card you can draw from the deck will help students to apply this lesson to real life scenarios.

The formula for finding the probability (P) of an event (A) is: P(A)= # of outcomes associated with event A/ # of outcomes in the sample space S.   The formula for finding the odds of in favor of event A happening is: A = P(A)/ 1-P(A) and the formula for finding the odds against event A from happening is A = 1-P(A)/ P(A) For those wishful lottery winners, here's the link for calculating the odds of you winning the lottery. For those of you who don't want to do the math, here's the table for calculating the odds of the hand you will be dealt in Texas Hold 'Em:

Poker Odds Chart - Calculating Hand Odds In Texas Hold 'Em Poker

Outs	One Card %	Two Card %	One Card Odds	Two Card Odds	Draw Type
1	2%	4%	46	23	Backdoor Straight or Flush (Requires two cards)
2	4%	8%	22	12	Pocket Pair to Set
3	7%	13%	14	7	One Overcard
4	9%	17%	10	5	Inside Straight / Two Pair to Full House
5	11%	20%	8	4	One Pair to Two Pair or Set
6	13%	24%	6.7	3.2	No Pair to Pair / Two Overcards
7	15%	28%	5.6	2.6	Set to Full House or Quads
8	17%	32%	4.7	2.2	Open Straight
9	19%	35%	4.1	1.9	Flush
10	22%	38%	3.6	1.6	Inside Straight & Two Overcards
11	24%	42%	3.2	1.4	Open Straight & One Overcard
12	26%	45%	2.8	1.2	Flush & Inside Straight / Flush & One Overcard
13	28%	48%	2.5	1.1
14	30%	51%	2.3	0.95
15	33%	54%	2.1	0.85	Flush & Open Straight / Flush & Two Overcards
16	34%	57%	1.9	0.75
17	37%	60%	1.7	0.66