Unexpected Expectations: The Curiosities of a Mathematical Crystal Ball

Mathematical expectation or expected value represents the long-term average numerical outcome to an experiment performed a large number of times. It is routinely used in physical SCiences, bUSiness, and economics and has been used for strategies in games of chance and even to justify the belief in God. How can this formula, which is trivial to calculate, have such broad applications and at the same time yield unexpected irresolvable paradoxes? In an easily acessible presentation, this book explores these puzzling and entertaining mysteries.