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Activity Number:
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216813
- Public Lecture: Born on Friday the Thirteenth: The Curious World of Probabilities
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Type:
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Invited
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Date/Time:
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Monday, July 30, 2018 : 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
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Sponsor:
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ASA
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Abstract #333126
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Title:
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Born on Friday the Thirteenth: The Curious World of Probabilities
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Author(s):
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Jeffrey S Rosenthal*
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Companies:
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University of Toronto
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Keywords:
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Abstract:
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This talk will use randomness and probability to answer such questions as: Just how unlikely is it to win a lottery jackpot? If you flip 100 coins, how close will the number of heads be to 50? How many dying patients must be saved to demonstrate the effectiveness of a new medical drug? Why do strange coincidences occur so often? How accurate are opinion polls? How did statistics help to expose the Ontario Lottery Retailer Scandal? Should parents be convicted of murder if two of their babies die without apparent cause? Can statistics explain luck and superstition? Why do casinos always make money, even though gamblers sometimes win and sometimes lose? And how is all of this related to Monte Carlo algorithms, an extremely popular and effective method for scientific computing? No mathematical background is required to attend.
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Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.
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