bleich@csd2.UUCP (12/20/84)
Hint to all dreydel players: make sure that you go first!
An article in the American Mathematical Monthly (Robert Feinerman,
"An Ancient Unfair Game", Vol. 83, pp. 623-625 (1976) ), contains a
proof that dreydel is biased in favor of the first player.
The main theorem is that given p players, let Xn be the payoff
on the nth spin. Then the expected value of Xn, E(Xn) is
p/4 + (5/8)**(n-1) * ( (p-2)/8 )
so that if p>2, E(Xn) is a strictly monotonic decreasing function of n.
The first player spins are 1, p+1, p+2, while the second player
spins on 2, p+2, p+3, so the first player has a larger expected payoff
at each round.
Anyone know the odds on kvittlach?
Happy Chanuka!
Chaya Bleich
allegra!cmcl2!csd2!bleich