What are your chances of dying on your next flight, being called for jury
duty, or winning the lottery? We all encounter probability problems in our
everyday lives. In this collection of twenty-one puzzles, Paul Nahin
challenges us to think creatively about the laws of probability as they
apply in playful, sometimes deceptive, ways to a fascinating array of
speculative situations. Games of Russian roulette, problems involving
the accumulation of insects on flypaper, and strategies for determining
the odds of the underdog winning the World Series all reveal intriguing
dimensions to the workings of probability. Over the years, Nahin,
a veteran writer and teacher of the subject, has collected these and
other favorite puzzles designed to instruct and entertain math enthusiasts
of all backgrounds.

If idiots A and B alternately take aim at each other with a six-shot
revolver containing one bullet, what is the probability idiot A will win?
What are the chances it will snow on your birthday in any given year? How
can researchers use coin flipping and the laws of probability to obtain
honest answers to embarrassing survey questions? The solutions are presented
here in detail, and many contain a profound element of surprise. And some
puzzles are beautiful illustrations of basic mathematical concepts: "The
Blind Spider and the Fly," for example, is a clever variation of a "random
walk" problem, and "Duelling Idiots" and "The Underdog and the World Series"
are straightforward introductions to binomial distributions.

Written in an informal way and containing a plethora of interesting
historical material, Duelling Idiots is ideal for those who are fascinated
by mathematics and the role it plays in everyday life and in our
imaginations.

Download File Size:11.78 MB

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