Looking for some Math course suggestions

[RandomUser]

Wasn't sure which forum to post this in, but I figured there would be a lot of Math people here.

I've always been Math oriented (Physics major), but most of my education has been geared towards Science/Engineering problem solving rather than probability/statistics. I've taken 3 semesters of Calculus, along with Linear Algebra and Diff Eq, but I've never had a course in statistics or probability outside of what little you get in Algebra.

I'm considering taking some statistics courses mainly to help myself with Poker (though I'm sure it will help me in school as well) and was looking for suggestions.

Or with my background, do you think it would be simpler to just pick up a couple of books on statistics and work through them myself?

If so, any suggestions?

[chiachu]

im an engineering student myself, and classes that ive taken that have had some relevance to poker were:
basic upper div statistics
combinatorics
probability

In addition i think classes in game theory (economics) might have relevance as well, but i have yet to take it.

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
Or with my background, do you think it would be simpler to just pick up a couple of books on statistics and work through them myself?

If so, any suggestions?

[/ QUOTE ]

Since you're a student, why not get credit for the class? I'm sure the concepts are well within your grasp. It seems like an easy "A" and a GPA boost to me. You have a strong background in math and are even interested in taking the course. Should be a breeze.

As far as suggestions... I think chiachu nailed a few good ones.

[chief444]

I'm surprised anyone with a science/engineering major isn't required to take at least one course in probability/statistics. I know I was required at least one when I went for engineering in addition to an economics course that included quite a bit of it.

[Siegmund]

If a science or engineering program requires statistics, it usually requires the basic "intro to feeding observations in and getting a p-value spat back" course, which will be almost no help to your poker game except for not having to post here asking how many hands you need on someone before you know they are a rock.

Any course that's called just plain "statistics" tends to be recipes for hypothesis testing and linear regression. If you're wanting to calculate odds and find optimal strategies yourself, you'll be wanting "mathematical statistics." Where I went to college there was a 2-semester pair of upper division courses, Probability and Mathematical Statistics, that covered more of the details behind how to count combinations, how to create a significance test, and talked some about decision theory and game theory.

[chief444]

You may be right, although the required course I took covered all of the probabilitiy calculations (and/or/not functions), combinations, etc. along with the basics you're talking about. Really, there isn't much to basic probability calcs/calculating odds and counting combinations. Anyone mathematically inclined can probably sit down and figure it out in a matter of hours/days. Although I do agree if you're in a program and can get the credits for it why not? A lot of it is somewhat useful/practical material anyway and not just relative to poker.

[probman]

Why are you interested in only a statistics course and not a course in probability as well? They are definitely not the same and both have their uses when it comes to poker. However it is hard to truly understand statistics without some knowledge of probability. Also, how in depth do you want to study the fields? If you are only interested in applications to poker, for the most part, you probably can stick to the introductory courses. However, if you want a very rigorous development of probability and statistics, especially probability, there is a lot of background work as well as course work to take.

[querulous]

Discrete Math (usually a requirement for comp sci) might be useful, although the 100 level course is usually pretty basic. It's mostly combinatorics and permutations. Avoid the courses focused on graph theory and lattices, you're not going to get much useful out of those.

[The Legend]

I just graduated and had a probability class my last semester, and it was kinda cool (although I didn't go to class at all for the second half of the semester, probably only 17% of the total classes. This means the probability that I was in class was .17). I'd recommend to a college student such as yourself to skip as much class as possible. I like to call it quarterassing it, which of course is a half of a halfass.

But what I learned in the first two weeks in probability did help with poker a bit. So check it out.

Oh, and expect lots of hot girls and really hot female professors who love having special study hours. But having the math and physics college experience already, you know exactly what I'm talk about /images/graemlins/wink.gif

And electrical engineers are much better poker players than physics majors (ask Ed Miller).

Edit: Blast! He majored in both physics and EE. Whatever, EE's still get tons more play than physics majors.

[fnord_too]

I haven't read all the suggestions, but for classes, here are some:
Probability
Combinatorics
Graph Theory (probably won't help with poker directly, but it is good stuff and a proof based class. In undergrad they actually combined Probability and Graph theory in one class, though they also had other classes devoted to each).
Finance (Finance is all about EV.)
Game Theory (There are sometimes classes like "Negotiations" in business that are just game theory classes in disguise. Also, some grad econ classes lean heavily on game theory.)

You can take any of these at a grad level if you have a physics degree, and that is probably the way to go if you want to take one.

The statistics I took as an undergrad was just incredibly boring because it moved so slow. It was a prob/stat for engineers class or something like that but I could not even sit through the classes it was so dull. The quantitative methods class I took in grad school was much better.

As for books, this series (http://www.sagepub.com/series.aspx?sid=486&sc=2) is quite excellent. I have read a few of these and they were all very good. Best thing about them is they assume no prior knowledge. That is, if say you need some linear algebra to follow part of the text, they have a review of what you need.

[Talex]

[ QUOTE ]

As for books, this series (http://www.sagepub.com/series.aspx?sid=486&sc=2) is quite excellent. I have read a few of these and they were all very good. Best thing about them is they assume no prior knowledge. That is, if say you need some linear algebra to follow part of the text, they have a review of what you need.

[/ QUOTE ]

So which of these are most applicable to poker? Probability Theory, Confidence Intervals, Game Theory Topics... others I'm missing?

-Tim