Category Archives: Probability

Simulation

In January, I enrolled in a master’s program in mathematics at a moderately sized state school. Because the mathematics department here is pretty small (maybe 20 tenure track professors, and another 10 or 15 other faculty), and because a lot … Continue reading

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The Hard Way

Here’s an interesting problem from a homework assignment in a class on stochastic processes: A woman standing at an intersection wants to cross the street. She will only cross if she feels that she can get all the way to … Continue reading

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Squares and Triangles

Patrick Vennebush over at Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks just posted an interesting problem: Three points are randomly chosen along perimeter of a square. What is the probability that the center of the square will be contained within the triangle … Continue reading

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The Monty Hall Problem

Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens … Continue reading

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