What is life if it is not imbued with chance?
We often meet our girlfriend or boyfriend or soulmate by chance. Chance events affect our health, our employment and the course of our lives. We usually do not know when (or how) we will die. The weather and other forces of nature (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, drought, floods, bushfires, mudslides, avalanches, etc.) are also, to varying degrees, unpredictable. Your house may get burned, your car stolen, or you (or a friend) may be subject so some crime. On the positive side, you may win some lottery or event.
At the foundation of our universe, at its very structure, is probability. Sub-atomic ‘particles’ behave more like probability fields than what we would think of as solid matter or ‘energy.’ The more closely one looks at this world of the very, very small, the less certain one is of many things. The more we learn about one feature of a particle, the less we know of another. Heisenberg’s Uncertainly Theory underlies all of nuclear physics.
Some mathematicians choose to study our amazing world and the chance events of our lives. Their fascinating fields of study are called probability and statistics.
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Combinatorics (The Art of Counting) |
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Set Theory and Venn Diagrams |
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Probability |
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Statistics |
Graeme’s approach to explaining maths formulas made it easy for my children to grasp. Graeme had a number of methods by which he could explain each problem, giving the students a clear understanding of how to approach each area of maths. My students came away feeling confident of when, and how to apply each formula to solve the maths problems.
Sarah G (parent, 2011)
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