Download Of Dice and Men

Of Dice and Men
When billionaires play dice:
Business magnate Warren Buffett once attempted to win a game
of dice with Bill Gates using Efron's dice.
"Buffett suggested that each of them choose one of the dice, then
discard the other two. They would bet on who would roll the highest
number most often. Buffett offered to let Gates pick his die first. This
suggestion instantly aroused Gates's curiosity. He asked to examine
the dice, after which he demanded that Buffett choose first."
Bill Gates speaks: insight from the world's greatest entrepreneur
by Bill Gates and Janet Lowe
Efron's dice are a set of 4 6-sided dice labelled as follow:
die A: 4,
die B: 3,
die C: 6,
die D: 5,
4,
3,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
0,
3,
2,
1,
0
3
2
1
Here are the rules for a two-player game:
- each player chooses one die from the set
- they both roll their die
- the player with the highest score wins.
Problem: Which die should you choose to maximize your odds of
winning? What do you think of Bill Gates's move?
Challenge: What is the probability of getting 4 consecutive
numbers when rolling the whole set of Efron's dice?
(vocabulary: a roll of 4 consecutive numbers is called a straight)
William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born
October 28, 1955) is an American business
magnate, investor, programmer, inventor and
philanthropist.
Gates is the former chief executive and current
chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest
personal-computer software company, which he
co-founded.
In 2000, Gates and his wife created the
charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The
couple plan to eventually donate 95% of their
wealth to charity.
Warren Edward Buffett (born August
30, 1930) is an American business
magnate, investor, and philanthropist.
He is widely considered the most
successful investor of the 20th century
and ranked among the world's
wealthiest people. In 2012, American
magazine Time named Buffett one of
the most influential people in the world. Warren Buffett© Bloomberg/Getty Images
In June 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to
charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
In a letter to Fortune Magazine's website in 2010 Buffett remarked:
My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes
produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well... I've
worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of
others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank
you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing
of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate's distribution
of long straws is wildly capricious.
Of Dice and Men
www.emilangues.education.fr
©2014