- A college professor is about to be fired because few students are signing up for his advanced maths courses. Putting his knowledge of numbers to work, he cleans out the wallets of students by playing crap games. It isn't long before racketeers move in to take advantage of the benefits of higher maths.—GusF
- Young college professor Albert is about to lose his job because too few students are signing up for his class in probability theory. A paper he is to present at a meeting in Atlantic City may buy him some time -- until a mix-up in his hotel reservation strands him in a room with gangsters running a floating crap-game. But his knowledge of probability shows up the experienced gamblers, and suddenly they're all eager to sign up for his class -- which attracts the attention of the authorities.—Bruce Eder
- Young Albert, a struggling, non-tenured professor in the math department of a local New York college, is at his wit's end -- despite being a promising teacher and scholar, he may well lose his position because too few students are signing up for his class in probability theory. His mentor and would-be father-in-law -- who is also the department chairman -- thinks that he may be able to hang on, based on the quality of the paper that he is about to present at a math symposium being held in Atlantic City that weekend.
But when he arrives at his hotel for his reservation, a set of transposed numbers leads him to the wrong room, where a group of gangsters are running a floating crap game -- and they're taking no chances on their cover being blown by this unwanted interloper. Albert is trapped in the room, treated well enough but under no conditions will he be allowed to leave until the business at hand is concluded. Meanwhile, his fiancee, alarmed at his seeming disappearance, takes it upon herself to present his paper, which saves his career and reputation for the moment.
Trapped among a coterie of professional gamblers and hoodlums, Albert watches the game progress, and his knowledge of probability causes him to kibitz -- at first he's resented, but soon it becomes apparent to the gamblers present that this funny little guy understands a lot about the very nuts-and-bolts of their business, and he's worth listening to. By the end of the day, he's won them over as friends, and earned their respect.
Albert returns to New York with a lot of explanations in order for all concerned. But one problem is solved -- no sooner does he resume teaching on Monday then he discovers that his class is now fully enrolled, thanks to the friends he picked up among the hoods and gamblers he met over the weekend. But this creates a new problem, as the New York City police department is now very interested in why these men -- some of whom are known criminals -- are suddenly taking a college class.
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