RJT: Don - recommendations for a good book on probability

[RJT]

Hey Don and all here,
I've been becoming more and more interested in the Mathematics of blackjack. Now i feel i have a solid grounding in the basics - i have a BSc in Mathematics and teach 13-18 year olds Maths - but it has been many years since i tackled anything more advanced than asyomtotic analysis and integration. I was wondering if you could recommend some good books to take me from the more basics to the more advanced concepts of probability theory which are relavent to the game?
At the moment a lot of the likes of 'Theory of Blackjack' and 'Blackjack Attack' are indecipherable to me - the beauty of these books is that you don't need to understand them to put the results to good use, but i'd like to.
Thanks in advance.

RJT.

[Don Schlesinger]

> Hey Don and all here,
> I've been becoming more and more interested in the
> Mathematics of blackjack. Now i feel i have a solid
> grounding in the basics - i have a BSc in Mathematics
> and teach 13-18 year olds Maths - but it has been many
> years since i tackled anything more advanced than
> asyomtotic analysis and integration. I was wondering
> if you could recommend some good books to take me from
> the more basics to the more advanced concepts of
> probability theory which are relavent to the game?
> At the moment a lot of the likes of 'Theory of
> Blackjack' and 'Blackjack Attack' are indecipherable
> to me - the beauty of these books is that you don't
> need to understand them to put the results to good
> use, but i'd like to.
> Thanks in advance.

> RJT.

I would try the Gambler's Book Shop's Web site, and take a look at the many books there on probability and statistics. But, from my college days, the classic text that is still cited today is William Feller's "An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications." It was published by Wiley and Sons, and has two volumes. I would recommend volume one.

Somewhat more advanced might be Richard Epstein's "The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic," revised edition, published by Academic Press. It's a spectacular work, but perhaps more advanced than what you would care for.

Good luck!

Don

[RJT]

Thanks Don that's just what i was looking for. I just want to try and wrap my head around some of the concepts involved, so we'll see how far i get.

RJT.