This is a blog where a professor from Northeastern University's Math department posts mathematical comments on the television show "Numb3rs". To comment, write to bridger@neu.edu.
December 30, 2008
OK, let's go back to the three-way duel, or "truel". We recall that there are three shooters: A, B, and C. A kills his target 0nly 1/3 of the time, B 2/3 of the time, and sharpshooter C is 100% lethal. The ground rules are that A, B, and C fire in that order, and each shoots in such a way as to maximize his (or her) chances of survival. Clearly, if B and C are still alive, they will shoot at each other, since they each pose the greatest threat... continued »
December 30, 2008
Here's a very simple and elegant discussion, by Josh and Sarah, of the three-way shooting. (Full disclosure: these are two of my children.)
Truels or Tri-els
December 21, 2008
Somebody blew it! Maybe it was a writer or math consultant -- we'll never know.
In last Friday's show there was a discussion about a hypothetical "duel" or, maybe, "truel." This is a gunfight among three people. Shooter A has a 1/3 probability of killing the person he/she shoots at; B has a 2/3 probability, and C, the sharpshooter, kills 100% of the time. Each shooter fires one shot at either of the other (remaining) shooters, then the next shooter fires, etc... continued »
December 15, 2008
Not that much math in this repeat. Charlie refers several times to "Venn" diagrams, which I've already blogged HERE. (11/10/06).
Physicists are still searching for the "Higgs Boson." One tool for finding it is the Large Hadron Collider, now being repaired. You can check out, on YouTube, the
Large Hadron Rap.
Your blogmeister
December 6, 2008
Well, there was almost no math on last Friday's show, except for a reference to the so-called "Simpson's Paradox." This is not really a paradox, but another example where one's immediate intuition about how statistics behave can be misleading. The basic example is that of two (base)ball players, A and B... continued »
