\magnification=1200
\baselineskip=20pt
\nopagenumbers
\font\big=cmr12 scaled \magstep2

\centerline{\bf STANFORD UNIVERSITY}
\centerline{\bf DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS}
\centerline{\big DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR}
\bigskip

\baselineskip=12pt
\centerline{4:15 p.m., Tuesday, April 17, 2001}
\centerline{Sequoia Hall Rm. 200}
\centerline{(Cookies at 3:45 in 1st Floor Lounge)}

\bigskip
\baselineskip=15pt
\centerline{\sl Tom Cover}
\centerline{\sl Department of Statistics}
\centerline{\sl Stanford University}
\centerline{\sl Stanford,  CA 94305}
\bigskip
\centerline{\bf Odd Angles in Sports and Gambling}

\bigskip

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 one jump 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?

\bye