July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Suppose I offer you a simple gamble.
Throw a dice: If you get a six, you win $10; if not, you lose
$1. The loss is more likely; the win brings more money. Willing
to play?
The generally accepted way for deciding in such cases --
developed originally by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal
in the 17th century -- is to think of probabilities. The outcome
will always be a win or loss, but imagine playing millions of
times. What will happen on average?
