Mathematics of Monopoly-

​The classic board game of Monopoly was the focus that Dr. Martha Shott, ( SSU Professor in Mathematics & Statistics) selected to take her audiences through complicated calculations of probabilities. She introduced the concept of Markov chains that take simple statistics such as the roll of a dice to predict where you might end up on the board - no surprise that combinations of 7 were most popular. Then it got complicated as she explained it’s just as important to consider  the options one has of landing on the 40 or so spaces on a monopoly board. This required a new statistical tool, called a Stochastic Matrix that had 42 rows and 42 columns. Just taking a look at the diagram was mind blowing but it did prove that we spend most of our time in JAIL ( 6.5%)  ! Really not that surprising once you start to analyze the plethora of ways that you can end up in jail - doubles 3x, community chest etc.  As the analysis progressed we learned that the orange and red properties get the most landings per game with Illinois being one of  the most profitable and those seductive blue deeds such as Boardwalk and Park Place are not a good investment at all. ( see powerpoint for more results)

    In our after cafe we did our best to apply these probabilities to our own game boards that had 15 squares. We would place our point values at the most likely places to land on and pitted our board arrangement against our table mates to see who would acquire 50 points first.  
Everyone had a good time while we munched on decorated dice cupcakes from the Piner Culinary team ! Not only can we appreciate how mathematical models can manipulate incredible sets of data we all  felt better equipped to obtain millionaire status the next time we play Monopoly !

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