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LET’S TALK ABOUT

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20 mins

6-99

1+ player(s)

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What are the cards?

  • 81 Cards in a deck
  • 4 attributes, 3 options for each
    • Shape
    • Color
    • Number
    • Fill

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What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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6 of 16

What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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7 of 16

What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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8 of 16

What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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What Makes A SET?

  • Each attribute must be all the same or all different

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How To Play – An Algorithm

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  1. Shuffle deck and play 12 cards face up.
  2. Look very hard at the cards. Squint if you must!
  3. If you find a SET, go to Step 4. Else, go to Step 5.
  4. Say “SET!!!!” and collect your set.
  5. If the deck is non-empty, add 3 cards to the table.
  6. If you admit defeat, go to Step 7. Else, go to Step 3.
  7. Game over! Player with the most sets wins.

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What Are The ODDS?

  • Odds against no sets in the first 12 cards you draw
    • 30:1
  • Odds against no sets for any 12 cards during the game
    • Usually 14:1 or 13:1
  • Odds against no sets in any 15 card draw
    • 2700:1 – amazing! Or is it?
  • Odds against no sets in 15 cards during a real game
    • Only 88:1. Why?
  • Only about 30% of games never need to use 15 cards ☹

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how Bad CAN IT GET ????

Very Bad!

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  1. Cards – no sets!!!

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🡨 maximal cap set

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Fun math connections!

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  • The cards in SET map to the points in
  • One red solid oval might map to (0,0,0,0)
  • Cap set = subset of where no points form a line
  • What’s the largest possible cap set?
  • Maximal cap set = very sad game

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Math FUN Connections!!

    • 50% of all mathematicians* have played SET
    • 71.42% of mathematicians who have played SET responded better than “Eh” to the game
    • There is a shortage of copies of SET among mathematicians! (only 28.57% SET-playing households own a copy)
    • 100% of survey respondents who hate having fun have never played SET!

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*based on a perfectly representative sample of 14 math grad students in years 1-3

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LET’S TALK ABOUT

S

E

E

T

​

20 mins

6-99

1+ player(s)