Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win

Calculated Bets describes a gambling system that works. Steven Skiena, a jai-alai enthusiast and computer scientist, documents how he used computer simulations and modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and increased his initial stake by 544% in one year. Skiena demonstrates how his jai-alai system functions like a stock trading system, and includes examples of how gambling and mathematics interact in program trading systems, how mathematical models are used in political polling, and what the future holds for Internet gambling. With humor and enthusiasm, Skiena explains computer predictions used in business, sports, and politics, and the difference between correlation and causation. An unusual presentation of how mathematical models are designed, built, and validated, Calculated Bets also includes a list of modeling projects with online data sources. Steven Skiena, Associate Professor of Computer Science at SUNY Stony Brook, is the author of The Algorithm Design Manual (Springer-Verlag, 1997) and the EDUCOM award-winning Computational Discrete Mathematics. He is the recipient of the ONR Young Investigator's Award and the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stony Brook. His research interests include discrete mathematics and its applications, particularly the design of graph, string, and geometric algorithms.

Steven Skiena is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Computer Science at Stony Brook University. His research interests include the design of graph, string, and geometric algorithms, and their applications (particularly to biology). He is the author of five books, including The Algorithm Design Manual and Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win. He is co-founder and Chief Scientist at General Sentiment (www.generalsentiment.com), a media measurement company based on his Lydia text/sentiment analysis system. Skiena received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in 1988, and is the author of over 130 technical papers. He is a former Fulbright scholar, and a recipient of the ONR Young Investigator Award and the IEEE Computer Science and Engineer Teaching Award.