Resumo de Book Of Facts - Reader's Digest

GAMES AND GAMING I

BIRTHDAY BETTING

The laws of chance worked out by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal have a number of curious and apparently implausible consequences. One of them concerns birthdays- the chances of at least two people in a random group of six having birthdays in the same month. On the face of it, this seems to be evens bet, because there are six people and twelve months.
But the odds in fact turn out to be far better, because the chances of three, four, five or all six people having birthdays in the same month need to be added in as well. The result is that the chance of all six having birthdays in different months works out at just over 1 in 5- which means that the odds of at least two sharing a month are nearly 4 to 1.

CHALLENGE OF THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS

For over a century people have been trying to take up a wager that never existed. The mythical challenge originated during the 1850s when the English novelist Charles Dickens, writing in the magazine All The Year Round, remarked how much courage would be needed to enter the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud?s wax museum in London. The remark snowballed until many believe that a fortune awaited anyone who spent a night there- and, although Tussaud?s have never issued a challenge and never intended to, they still receive letters from would-be challengers. The volunteers usually expected to win 100 pounds, but some have expected 5000 pounds for lasting the night.

WINNING DOUBLE
Millionaire Australian racehorse owner Durrell Davis pulled off one of racing?s biggest gambling coups in 1930. Davis was the owner of Phar Lap, an outstandingly successful two year old New Zealand race horse that, together with another horse named Amounis, was dominating Australian races.
Davis and his friends plunged heavily on a double bet: that Amounis would win the Caufield Cup (Australia?s second biggest race) and that Phar Lap would win the Melbourne Cup (the country?s biggest race). Once the bets were on ? and at good odds since many bookmakers had calculated that Phar Lap would beat Amounis in the Caufield Cup- Davis withdrew Phar Lap from the Caufield Cup on the grounds of illness, leaving Amounis with an easy win.
Alarmed by the size of potential payout if Davis?s double came off, some bookmakers tried to force the withdrawal of Phar Lap from the Melbourne Cup. The horse?s trainer and jockey were threatened. Then unknown gunmen tried to shoot Phar Lap during a training gallop.
They missed, and Phar Lap went into hiding, until he was delivered to the Melbourne racecourse just minutes before the start of the race. Phar Lap won comfortably, clinching the double- and Davis and his friends collected an estimated 200,000 pounds

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