probability

mathematics

Monty Hall, Monty Fall, Monty Crawl

Remember The Problem of the Unfinished Game? And the almost 2,500 comments those two posts generated? I know, I like to pretend it didn't happen, either. Some objected to the way I asked the question, but it was a simple question asked in simple language. I think

By Jeff Atwood ·
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probability

Finishing The Game

In yesterday's post, I asked this question: Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you met someone who told you they had two children, and one of them is a girl. What are the odds that person has a boy and a girl? Most people answer 50%. Unfortunately, this

By Jeff Atwood ·
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probability

The Problem of the Unfinished Game

Today's post is a simple question. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you met someone who told you they had two children, and one of them is a girl. What are the odds that person has a boy and a girl? Consider your answer carefully, without doing a

By Jeff Atwood ·
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statistics

An Initiate of the Bayesian Conspiracy

An Intuitive Explanation of Bayesian Reasoning is an extraordinary piece on Bayes’ theorem that starts with this simple puzzle: 1% of women at age forty who participate in routine screening have breast cancer. 80% of women with breast cancer will get positive mammographies. 9.6% of women without breast cancer

By Jeff Atwood ·
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