{"id":184914,"date":"2021-09-06T03:22:40","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T10:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=184914"},"modified":"2021-09-06T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T18:24:07","slug":"lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost Letter Reveals Mathematician Alan Turing Roulette System Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

British mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing is sometimes credited with building the world\u2019s first computer. But three years before he developed his Turing Machine, he turned his formidable intellect to gambling. And a decade before he famously helped crack the Nazi\u2019s Enigma code during World War II, he was trying to crack roulette<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Alan
Alan Turing led the team that cracked the German Enigma cipher and is credited with shortening World War II in Europe. (Image: Alan Turing Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a previously unknown letter written by Turing in 1933 to Alfred Beuttell, the inventor of strip lighting, Turing lays out detailed mathematical analysis of Beutnell\u2019s personal roulette system.<\/p>\n

The seven-page handwritten letter is now up for auction at Bonhams in London where it\u2019s expected to fetch around \u00a350,000 ($70,000).<\/p>\n

Turing was a 21-year-old undergraduate at Cambridge University when he responded to Beutnell\u2019s request for his opinion on the gambling system.<\/p>\n

Beutnell, then 88, claimed he played the system as a young man at the Grand Casino Monte Carlo and was able to live off his winnings for a month on the French Riviera.<\/p>\n

Flaws in the System<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although Beutnell\u2019s original letter detailing his system is lost, from the response it appears to be a variation on the Martingale betting system<\/a> — or at least the expected outcome is similar — and Turing isn\u2019t sold on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor short runs one most probably wins or else one loses an unexpectedly large sum. As the length of run is increased, the chances of winning becomes more remote,\u201d Turing wrote in his analysis.<\/p>\n

Turing describes how he used equations to figure out the diminishing probability of winning after 150, 1,520, 4,560 and 30,400 spins.<\/p>\n

“In a polite way, it appears his conclusion was Beuttell’s success was beginner’s luck. It does underline Turing’s fascination with probability… although I don’t imagine Turing would have been at a roulette wheel in Monte Carlo,” said Matthew Haley, head of books and manuscripts at Bonhams.<\/p>\n

Turing letters with math content are pretty rare, and what makes this one so extraordinary and attractive is the gambling aspect, although I don\u2019t imagine Turing would have been at a roulette wheel in Monte Carlo,\u201d Haley continued.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAlthough his analysis of Beuttell\u2019s gambling system was conducted in a spirit of fun, it does underline Turing\u2019s fascination with probability, and its application to cryptology. This was key to the decryption work at\u00a0Bletchley Park\u00a0for which he is, of course, best known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enigma and Downfall<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bletchley Park was an English country house that became the center of the British \u2018Ultra\u2019 Intelligence code-breaking effort during World War II. Turing led the team of cryptanalysts that cracked the German \u201cEnigma\u201d cipher.<\/p>\n

This allowed the British to intercept German coded messages, which historians agree shortened the war in Europe, possibly saving hundreds of thousands of lives.<\/p>\n

In 1951, Turing was prosecuted for \u201cgross indecency\u201d after admitting to his homosexuality, a crime at the time in the UK. Given the choice of prison or chemical castration, he chose the latter. Two years later, he committed suicide.<\/p>\n

In 2009, the British government publicly apologized for its treatment of the man who is now revered as the father of modern computer science. The Queen granted him a posthumous pardon in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

British mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing is sometimes credited with building the world\u2019s first computer. But three years before he developed his Turing Machine, he turned his formidable intellect to gambling. And a decade before he famously helped crack the Nazi\u2019s Enigma code during World War II, he was trying to crack roulette. In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":184915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16693],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLost Letter Reveals Mathematician Alan Turing Trying to Crack Roulette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alan Turing turned his formidable intellect to roulette system, before building the Turing Machine and cracking the Enigma code.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lost Letter Reveals Mathematician Alan Turing Trying to Crack Roulette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alan Turing turned his formidable intellect to roulette system, before building the Turing Machine and cracking the Enigma code.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-06T10:22:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-06T18:24:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/turing.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/\",\"name\":\"Lost Letter Reveals Mathematician Alan Turing Trying to Crack Roulette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/turing.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-06T10:22:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-06T18:24:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Alan Turing turned his formidable intellect to roulette system, before building the Turing Machine and cracking the Enigma code.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-letter-reveals-mathematician-alan-turing-trying-to-crack-roulette\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/turing.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/turing.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":847,\"caption\":\"Alan Turing led the team that cracked the German Enigma cipher and is credited with shortening World Wat II in Europe. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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