Being able to apply maths is an important skill in lots of different aspects of life, whether that’s person just understanding how much you weigh when you step on the scales, through to making important decisions about personal finances, investment and other aspects of money management.
Even in leisure activities, a good grasp of maths can be a major factor. One activity is gaming. In games of chance, math can help you determine the odds of winning or losing, allowing you to make decisions about when to play and when not to. Math can help you to work out the probabilities of different outcomes and, as a result, allow you to make strategic decisions too. Some games also force you to make split-second decisions, which strong math skills can help you to do. Below is a look at five games where solid math skills can provide you with a potential edge.
Monopoly
Monopoly might encourage you to become ruthless and drive the other players into poverty, but it provides you with excellent scope to exercise your maths skills to do it. The game involves simple maths such as:
- Rolling the dice and moving the pieces the required number of places
- Understanding that if you roll a certain number, you’ll be a certain number of places further around the board
- Recognizing the value of the different notes of cash in the game.
Then there are more complex math skills such as financial literacy to apply. This entails working out which properties to buy based on their value, how much money you have and how much you’d make from the properties. Get your math right and you can gradually buy up the properties and make life in the game a financial hell for the other players.
Blackjack
In blackjack, you’re playing against the dealer and the aim of the game is to get as close to 21 as possible without going bust. The person who gets the closest wins. Before playing blackjack in a casino, you should make sure you understand the house edge, the statistical advantage the casino has over the player. In blackjack, this is much lower than in several other games. If you’re aware of this, you’ll also understand you have a better chance of winning than in other games.
Being good at math can help you to gauge your probabilities of winning or losing (and the dealer’s). Knowing the meaning of a Soft 17 in Blackjack and assessing the value of your cards will enable you to decide whether to stick with your cards or keep hitting. A quick look at the dealer’s face-up cards can also aid your decision.
Roulette
Roulette is straightforward. You bet on where you think the ball will land on the roulette wheel when it stops. If you predict correctly, you win. Roulette is entertaining for players in that it allows them to make all sorts of bets. Some simple, such as whether the ball will land on red or black. Others more complex, such as whether it will land between a range of numbers.
Strong math skills will help you choose the most suitable money management strategy, which you should combine with the right playing strategy. The most well-known money management strategy is the Martingale one, which entails doubling your bet after each loss. If you have good math skills, you can calculate the probability of the ball landing on a certain part of the wheel.
Solitaire
Solitaire is a challenging game. Thanks to the Microsoft version of solitaire, Klondike is one of the most widespread and popular. The goal is to release all your cards and build foundations by playing the cards into positions in sequence and suit, from ace to king. When it comes to solving solitaire, this card game is one of mathematics’ trickiest puzzles because of the vast amount of unknowns. Anyone applying maths, to be in with a chance of solving solitaire, must be able to account for the position of each card at each deal. However, they don’t know the position of the card and rely upon luck to find the right cards and the right path to victory.
Sudoku
Sudokus are an immensely popular type of puzzle and often appear in the same section of publications as crosswords. There are also lots of apps providing sudokus, which are logic-based, combination and number placement puzzles. In these challenging puzzles, the player must fill in a 9×9 square with numbers between 1 and 9, but not must repeat them vertically or horizontally. Observing the numbers already in the grid can help you solve the puzzle. The games are just as much a memory puzzle as a maths one and you must constantly reevaluate the grid.
Math is an important skill in professional life but can prove valuable in gaming and other leisure activities. Sound application of math can help you calculate the probability of certain outcomes, make strategic decisions that put you a step closer to winning the game and, in general, solve problems and puzzles.