Chance, luck, and statistics

Summary: In simple, nontechnical language, the author explores the fundamentals governing chance and applies them to statistics relevant to sports, government, business, and other fields. Part I concerns the theory of probability, with discussions of superstitions, fallacies, betting odds, the law of mathematical expectation, and specific applications of probability to poker, roulette, lotteries, dice games, bridge, and other games involving chance. Part II moves from the theory of probability into its applications in the area of statistics, including discussions of normal frequency distributions, the dangers of misusing statistics, and the application of statistics to a variety of fields -- strategic warfare, sports, social problems, stock speculation, and other areas.