Mildly Amusing Statistical Card Game

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Card Game
Example Hand

Introduction:

The object of the game is to get more points than your opponent(s)
(usually; but see below *).
It is for up to four players;
it reinforces the concepts of range, mode, median and mean.


Procedure:

Use a normal pack of cards, but with Jacks, Queens and Kings removed.
Deal the same number of cards to each player.
(Beginners may want to start with 5 cards, working up to 10).
Then, put the cards in order.

Round 1: Range: Work out the range (highest card - lowest card)
Record it as the score for this round.
Round 2: Mode: Work out the mode (value that occurs most).
(If there is more than one mode, the player can pick which one to use to score.)
Record the mode as the score for this round.

Round 3: Median: Work out the median (for odd number of cards, it is the value of the middle card. For even number of cards, it is the mean of the two middle cards.)
Record the median as the score for this round.

Round 4: Mean: Work out the mean (the sum of the values, divided by the number of cards.)
Record the mean as the score for this round.

The player with the highest total score wins.

To play more than one hand, agree a winning total - eg first to reach 100.

Variations: Changing the number of cards from odd to even covers both possibilities of finding the median.

Using nasty numbers of cards (eg 7) revises division, improper fractions, mixed number.

*Lowest score wins.
One player, having seen their hand, picks whether high or low score wins.

Tim Devereux 17/03/07