Tag Archives: Probability

Secretest Santa

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In our new book, The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus, Dr Hannah Fry and I discuss a mathematically superior way to organise your office Secret Santa. However, some people think they have found a flaw in our system…

Never fear though, we have a solution up our sleeves. I just hope you like cutting and sticking…

CLICK HERE FOR THE POST

Tennis: How much is a set worth?

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With the men’s final of Roland Garros about to start, I have written a pretty simple piece about how much a set is worth in a tennis match (in probability terms). I have tried to keep the style accessible, as with the Pointless maths articles (although I probably simplified a little too much with those).

Click here to read the article.

The photo is from Yann Caradec via Wikimedia Commons, published Creative Commons: HERE.

Election predictions and statistical independence

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Here’s an article on predicting the UK election: CLICK HERE

In the piece, I raise some queries about two very interesting articles from the excellent election news site May2015. The articles (here and here) suggest that David Cameron faces an extremely difficult task to remain as prime minister, based on the mathematics of how national polls will translate into parliamentary seats. I wonder whether the statistics support the level of confidence with which this conclusion is presented.