dice

There's a dice game played in the bars in my area called Horse. Two or more players wager a dollar (could be more, but for our purposes let's use a dollar), and roll 5 dice. The goal is to get the most dice of a kind while getting the highest kind. For example, three threes is not as good as...

Note: the following is based upon a discussion of the work of Colin Blyth in Martin Gardner's "The Colossal Book of Mathematics." I have phrased the discussion in terms of dice, but the same analysis can apply to a number of other items or activities. Gardner discusses the matter using...