Math Movie Night: Probability and Gambling

This week we talked about probability (specifically Bayes’ theorem) and how it could help you in everyday life. What if I told you that probability could even make you a better gambler?

Probability and gambling have always had a symbiotic relationship; studies of gambling improve probability, and probability improves the ability of people to gamble. Even if you aren’t a gambler at heart, very similar mechanics permeate many types of games today, making it an interesting study.

Without further ado, our feature presentation: How Science is Taking the Luck Out of Gambling!

 

Math Movie Night: Math and Music

Last time, we mentioned a speaker by the name of David Kung and his work comparing music and math. While I have not been able to find the lecture referenced in that podcast, I did find one that seemed to be fairly similar. While it is a bit long, it makes for fantastic listening as he has two other musicians on stage with him. His main point? “Math helps us understand music. Music helps us understand math.” If you’d rather not listen to the whole thing, I’d listen to the final portion of the presentation (starting at about 59:00) where he discusses how Bach used several math concepts in his music that were well ahead of the mathematicians of his day.

Now sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and enjoy tonight’s feature math film, Symphonic Equations: A Mathematical Exploration of Music!