Do You Feel Lucky?: The Secrets of Probability

Murderous Maths #6

by Kjartan Poskitt

Does "probability" make you panic? Do you ever feel you don't fancy your chances? This title will show you why coins have no memory, and whether Urgum the Axeman is likely to lose his head and join Riverboat Lil and Brett Shuffler in a mathematical tangle with swamp snakes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mathematics, Science, Childrens, Humor, Education

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Kjartan Poskitt is an author and TV presenter who is best known for writing the Murderous Maths children's series of books. Poskitt was educated at Collingwood College, Durham. In addition to his popular science and maths books, which include books on Isaac Newton (Dead Famous: Isaac Newton and his Apple), puzzles, practical jokes and secred codes, Poskitt has written a book of magical tricks, a GCSE Maths support book and four Rosie and Jim annuals. In 2007, Poskit published the first in a new series of children's novels called Urgum the Axeman.

He also wrote the theme tune for the children's art program SMart, as well as the title theme and music for the first two series of Brum. He is also the creator of a logic puzzle, Kjarposko.

He has been a presenter for a number of (mostly BBC) educational children's TV shows.

Reviews

[Snowman]

I was in school the other day and reading a math book. It went something like this.
"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."
As you can imagine, it wasn't exactly the most entertaining book ever. However, Murderous Maths has really made a math book fun. As of the educational value, I wouldn't say it is as high as some of the other math books, but it is still there, and going pretty strong. The fun of the book really makes it a great read.

[Parth Kumar]

I didn't like probability earlier.

But, this book was excellent, and it's {a dead cert} that I learnt loads about probability. I earlier found factorial sums like
11!/7!*4!
murderous. But turns out it all cuts down to a simply 330.

I found the bit where we learn different ways of saying different things about probability (or chance) most interesting. I had read about perms and coms in another MM book and had understood nothing (the {odds} are because I was young that time). But this time, and it's {highly probable} that you would have guessed, that this time it was {a slim chance} that I would not have understood it.

Finally, there is a {zero probability} that I will not like probability ever again.

[Venice]

i LOVE this series and it is all thanks to my loving cousin casey! :) i am thankful that he showed me this series and now i am completely hooked :) thanks pal!
( P.S. this book is good for people who don't know much math, just enough:)

[Jess]

Murderous Maths series is great, not quite as good as the others but good in its own way. Enjoyed this. The cartoons always make me laugh and I like discovering about mathematicans

[Arti]

an introduction to Probability - it stands apart from school books as it goes beyond coins, cards and die, and uses real life situations to show how we can apply the concept of probability in our daily activities - from determining combination of burgers to choose from to calculating the odds of an event... the narrative is light and yet it introduces advanced ideas like permutations and combinations, shows the power of the Pascal’s Triangle and includes some interesting tricks too!

i read it with my nephew and enjoyed the book... even learnt a few short cuts that I never figured out on my own...

[Nick]

This book was very good. My mom made me read this and at first I thought it would be terrible. Then I realised how funny it was, and it was {a dead cert} that I learned a ton about probability and luck. I might have read another murderous maths book, but the {odds} are that I was younger so it's {highly probable} that I didn't understand how funny it was. But now that I've read it again, there's only {a slim chance} that I won't read the rest of the series. Even if you don't like math, you should still read this because it is very good.

[Lafrog8]

Fun way to understand probabilities - great collection to re-visit

[Indah Threez Lestari]

233 - 2019

[Belle Meade School]

519.2

[yaku]

very funny and cool. cant wait to read the other books.

[Pierce Zhong]

An excellent and humours way to learn maths

[Smiley C]

Nice fun little reread. At last understand most of the info now!

[Caroline]

Not as good as I remember it when I was you get but this book did help me pass probability in school 😅

[zhanghao]

A very good science book about math that kids can understand.

[💗Loveyagurl😇Cutie-Pieeee😋😋😋😋]

Though this book sounds boring, but once you’ve started you just can’t stop. It’s engrossing and educational with fun comic strips and jokes that are hilarious. If you wanna be happy and benefit from it you read murderous maths. Perhaps there are other books but this is very effective,and I really recommend it.

[Huda,H]

The story starts with two barbarians who use a die ( singular verson of a dice ) to settle an argument. During the middle of the middle of the story, the nook teaches you the different ways to use probability in an everyday life. It includes different senarios where Maths and probability come in. I think this is a great book to learn what probability is, how it can help in certain situations and the language used. There were several characters in this book, for example Raj. He was a waiter at the restaurant who sold indian food and was very keen on curry. Another character involved was Fiendish, who was a cold hearted man, who loved to bet with other people for money. I wouldn't chose to read this book again, just beacuse i didn't really understand it nor did i enjoy it. However if you are into Maths and like a bit of humour then this is the book for you.

[Mao Mao]

This book contains a lot of interesting probability problems with answers. It also teaches me probability. I like the joke that the die should die.

[Agnik]

This book is amazing, it is funny and has massive numbers it can really MELT YOUR BRAIN!!!! It will bring help before a maths test.

[Indah Threez Lestari]

535 - 2016

[Thames]

Pretty fun, it is about chance and probability.

I liked it because I like luck.

I want to know how bang/! was made. (5!=5x4x3x2x1=120)

[Tarık]

very basic

[Francesca]

This book was not ver