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Comment by taneq | Hacker News Reader

All true, but also this article is about Monte Carlo numerical methods rather than actual casinos.

"Flipping a coin until you get enough tails in a row" is a really good way to describe long term gambling, though. I'm gonna borrow that.

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The history of probability theory and risk management is filled with mathematicians who were gamblers or had patrons that were. Introducing monte carlo methods with gambling seems very appropiate considering the history of the topic!

Indeed! Here's a Python notebook illustrating both Monte Carlo and symbolic analysis of historical gambling problems (the Chevalier de Méré corresponding with Pascal, Pepys corresponding with Newton)

https://risk-engineering.org/notebook/coins-dice.html

That's a nice course you got there. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading!

> "Flipping a coin until you get enough tails in a row" is a really good way to describe long term gambling

It's not. The correct way is saying 'flipping a weighed coin'. It can be weighed in or against your favor. If it is weighed in your favor, then you will never really have the 'until' part (i.e. get bust), if you also manage your bankroll wisely.

I think they're referring to the psychological component of gambling. Most people only exit when they go bust, i.e. when they get sufficient consecutive tails to wipe out their budget.

That's how I read it, at least.

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