AboutJason Eisele Expertise I am qualified to answer probability questions through the undergraduate level. I can also assist with the first actuarial exam in probability and explain the roles of probability in applications such as economics and game theory.
I hope to address any topics that I am currently unfamiliar with during my studies as an actuary.
Experience I am beginning employment as an Actuarial Assistant with a major auto insurer. On the side, I have experience applying probability to poker at a highly competitive level.
Organizations Mensa
Education/Credentials University of Rochester Class of 2008:
Bachelor of Arts, Mathematics and Economics
Certificate in Actuarial Studies
Certificate in Mathematical Modeling in Political Science and Economics
Certificate in Management Studies with track in Accounting and Finance
Question I am creating a bingo game for work but instead of using the standard bingo game, I want to create my own cards using industry terms. We will not use the same 15 words for the B as one would with the numbers bingo game. I have 144 terms that can appear anywhere on each card. Plus, I will be using a "Free" space in the middle. How many cards can I print before I am duplicating cards because I don't want more than one winner at a time. If it will help, I will call different games each time. For instance, the first game will be 4 corners, then a straight bingo, then the letter T, etc. Will that help?
Answer Hi Becky,
If you make 5x5 cards with one free space in the middle of each, you won't have to worry very much about ties.
There are over 1.3 octillion (1.3x10^27) possible unordered groups of 24 terms that you can draw from the bank of 144. In short, you will not be anywhere near forced to use the same set of 24 terms more than once. In case you are curious, there are about 8.3x10^50 different ways you can make a card when you consider the exact order.
Compared to standard bingo, it will take longer in this game to get bingo, because you have 144 terms to go through instead of 75 (this also decreases the likelihood of a tie). Bingos are also much less likely to be shared because there is no order to the terms and no column they must fit into.
Here are some more factors that would influence the likelihood of a tie:
-How many players are playing?
As the number of players increase, the likelihood of a tie will also increase because there are more opponents for one winner to match
-How many spaces are required for bingo?
The more spaces required, the smaller chance of a tie because more commonality between the winners' boards would be required.
-How many ways can you achieve a bingo?
There are twelve ways to get a standard bingo (5 horizontal, 5 vertical, 2 diagonal) but only one way to get 4 corners, a T, or a full board. Having more ways to win will increase the likelihood of a tie because multiple winners would not be forced to have the same winning terms among the same squares.
If I'm not mistaken, the actual calculations behind these conditions can get pretty extreme, but the details we've looked at so far give me plenty of reason to believe that you'll be just fine. Just remember that you're substantially less likely to run into a tie here than in normal bingo, and that you can play larger games with only one way to win (such as a letter shape) if you want to make ties even less likely. Mixing the games up, however, will provide no benefit other than entertainment and attentiveness, since each game is independent from one another.
I hope this helps! Just make sure there's some variety in your cards and have fun!
