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 |
I have been watching your “Integration technique” videos with high expectation and excitement. They never fail to give me a lot of joy and much pleasure. You must have been one hell of teacher at your time! … just continue making highly enjoyable and intellectually stimulating videos. … Unfortunately, what you learn at the university, you hardly ever see again in your office job. That is why I try to repeat some thing I learned: to enjoy it a bit more, to marvel upon beauty, and to keep my brain sharp. There is where your videos come in perfectly: interesting, amusing and thought provoking problems neatly presented. … You do your best to share your passion, knowledge and experience. The least I can do is to say an honest “Thank you!” As I said, your videos give me much pleasure. You may freely let other people know that. … Rest assured that I shall be watching your videos in the future. With joy and excitement. And I shall comment on them from time to time. You just continue making them.
Zoran V (in private correspondence via YouTube, quoted with permission)
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