2017-07-13

[public] 126K views, 3.60K likes, 72.0 dislikes audio only

PBS Infinite Series

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What happened when a gambler asked for help from a mathematician? The formal study of Probability. Go to http://squarespace.com/infiniteseries and use code “INFINITE” for 10% off your first order.

Find out the players probability of winning based on their current score (Link referenced at 2:24):

http://mathforum.org/isaac/problems/prob1.html

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Previous Episode

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Written and Hosted by Kelsey Houston-Edwards

Produced by Rusty Ward

Graphics by Ray Lux

Assistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike Petrow

Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)

Resources and Special thanks:

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/254a-notes-0-a-review-of-probability-theory/

Kolmogorov - Foundations of the Theory of Probability

Ian Hacking - The Emergence of Probability

Throughout much of human history, people consciously and intentionally produced randomness. They frequently used dice - or dice-shaped animal bones and other random objects - to gamble, for entertainment, predict the future and communicate with deities. Despite all this engagement with controlled random processes, people didn’t really think of probability in mathematical terms prior to 1600. All of the ingredients were there -- people had rigorous theories of geometry and algebra, and the ability to rig a game of dice would have certainly provided an incentive to study probability -- but, there’s very little evidence that they thought about randomness in mathematical terms.

Challenge Winner:

Zutaca

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Comments answered by Kelsey:

Ja-Shwa Cardell

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