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  • I don't see the point in games which are pure chance

    From pepstein5@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Tue Mar 28 16:17:03 2023
    I'm probably not the first person to have this idea but, because
    I see games of 100% chance as being pointless, I like the idea of
    introducing the cube into such games. If snakes and ladders had
    a doubling cube, there'd be a fair amount of skill in it.

    Paul

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  • From Robert Zimmerman@21:1/5 to peps...@gmail.com on Tue Mar 28 20:23:40 2023
    On Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 7:17:04 PM UTC-4, peps...@gmail.com wrote:
    I'm probably not the first person to have this idea but, because
    I see games of 100% chance as being pointless, I like the idea of introducing the cube into such games. If snakes and ladders had
    a doubling cube, there'd be a fair amount of skill in it.

    Paul

    An interesting idea. Why not?!!
    Art Benjamin, a math prof and strong backgammon player, argues that high school students should learn statistics and probability rather than calculus.
    (I would add logic and critical thinking.) https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_teach_statistics_before_calculus?language=en
    Bob

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to Robert Zimmerman on Wed Mar 29 09:30:23 2023
    On 3/28/2023 11:23 PM, Robert Zimmerman wrote:
    Art Benjamin, a math prof and strong backgammon player, argues that high school students should learn statistics and probability rather than calculus.

    Speaking of Art Benjamin, he recently gave a talk about races in
    backgammon.

    https://vimeo.com/experimentalmathematics

    I haven't listened to it yet, but I plan to. It's geared toward
    an audience of mathematicians who might not play backgammon, so
    it may not be to the taste of all r.g.b. readers. I've talked
    with Art about this topic and read some of his PrimeTime articles,
    and my takeaway is that the salient features of his method are:

    1. more accurate EPC estimation tricks, and
    2. explicitly taking into account variance.

    Part 2 may be thought of as an elaboration of the traditional
    distinction between "pip-like" positions and "roll-like" positions.

    ---
    Tim Chow

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  • From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to Timothy Chow on Thu Mar 30 19:01:43 2023
    Timothy Chow <tchow12000@yahoo.com> writes:

    [Art Benjamin]

    and my takeaway is that the salient features of his method are:

    1. more accurate EPC estimation tricks, and
    2. explicitly taking into account variance.

    I played around with variance distiction a little bit. Looked promising,
    but I feared that numerically quantifying it required too much effort,
    hence I did not pursue this path any further.

    Let me know if my Isight method is mentioned, I have no access to his
    video.

    Best regards

    Axel

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Fri Mar 31 09:15:24 2023
    On 3/30/2023 1:01 PM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    Let me know if my Isight method is mentioned, I have no access to his
    video.

    He mentions it briefly at the end. I'm surprised to see you say that
    you have no access to the video; there's no paywall or anything that
    I'm aware of. Here again is the link to the main page:

    https://vimeo.com/experimentalmathematics

    If that still doesn't work for you, here's the direct Vimeo link.

    https://vimeo.com/812646982

    ---
    Tim Chow

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  • From pepstein5@gmail.com@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Sat Apr 1 04:51:51 2023
    On Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 12:18:32 PM UTC+1, Axel Reichert wrote:
    Timothy Chow <tchow...@yahoo.com> writes:

    He mentions it briefly at the end.
    This makes me curious.
    I'm surprised to see you say that you have no access to the video
    Me too. I get

    Video is not rated. Log in to watch.

    both for the "channel" and the individual video.

    I think it's a semantic point -- you do have access to the video and the
    access is acquired by logging in.
    What you don't have is LogInFree access.

    I don't see the issue with acquiring an account and logging in -- it
    takes only 28.314 seconds.

    Paul

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  • From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to Timothy Chow on Sat Apr 1 13:18:30 2023
    Timothy Chow <tchow12000@yahoo.com> writes:

    He mentions it briefly at the end.

    This makes me curious.

    I'm surprised to see you say that you have no access to the video

    Me too. I get

    Video is not rated. Log in to watch.

    both for the "channel" and the individual video.

    Best regards

    Axel

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Sat Apr 1 08:21:58 2023
    On 4/1/2023 7:18 AM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    Video is not rated. Log in to watch.

    both for the "channel" and the individual video.

    Okay, I think I've found the problem:

    "If you don’t rate your public videos, viewers in some countries
    (specifically in the UK and EU) will need to log into a Vimeo
    account to watch those videos per local regulations."
    https://vimeo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/224818087-Content-ratings

    I'll notify the organizers of the Experimental Mathematics
    Seminar. I'm sure they'll have no objection to rating their
    videos, but I don't know how much effort it is, so I can't
    predict how long it will be before the problem gets fixed.

    ---
    Tim Chow

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to peps...@gmail.com on Sat Apr 1 08:33:13 2023
    On 4/1/2023 7:51 AM, peps...@gmail.com wrote:
    I don't see the issue with acquiring an account and logging in -- it
    takes only 28.314 seconds.

    I hate that sort of thing myself. Every time you create an account,
    you have to create a password, which hackers might steal. If you
    use the same password (or variants of the same password) for multiple
    accounts then you risk exposing those accounts. If you use strong
    passwords and different passwords for each account, then you have to
    find some way to manage them. If you use a password manager then you
    have to trust the password manager. Etc.

    Passwords aside, creating an account usually means another way you
    can be tracked online. It probably also means more spam. Again there
    are ways of mitigating these problems, but they take more than
    28.314 seconds.

    ---
    Tim Chow

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  • From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to Timothy Chow on Sat Apr 1 16:21:59 2023
    Timothy Chow <tchow12000@yahoo.com> writes:

    I'll notify the organizers of the Experimental Mathematics
    Seminar. I'm sure they'll have no objection to rating their
    videos

    Many thanks, much appreciated.

    Best regards

    Axel

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  • From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to Timothy Chow on Thu Apr 6 22:26:28 2023
    Timothy Chow <tchow12000@yahoo.com> writes:

    I'll notify the organizers of the Experimental Mathematics
    Seminar. I'm sure they'll have no objection to rating their
    videos, but I don't know how much effort it is, so I can't
    predict how long it will be before the problem gets fixed.

    Works now, thanks for your help.

    Unfortunate, Arthur rushes through the last (and for me probably most interesting) slides, so maybe I should ask him for his (otherwise great) presentation.

    Best regards

    Axel

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