Recorded Talks

The Mathematics of Card Shuffling

Abstract: According to popular legend, it takes seven shuffles to mix up a deck of cards. Where did that number come from, and what does it really mean? In this talk, I will introduce some common ways to formalize the deck shuffling problem and investigate a few different shuffling techniques using combinatorial and computational methods. I will not perform any card tricks, because 1) it would be hard to do on Zoom, and 2) I don’t know any good ones. You will leave this talk with some fun but useless knowledge which will not give you an edge at any reputable casino.