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Wald’s Survivorship Airplane Problem
April 5, 2021This is a great example where mathematicians applied some creative thinking to solve a very real world problem. It is Abraham Wald’s Survivorship Bias problem. To help explain the sequence of concepts that lead to his insight, we made some wooden planes to help visualize the problem, and the solution. We start out thinking about the planes that come back ...
Vaccine Strategy III: The Parable of the Life Preserver Experiment
April 4, 2021THE PARABLE OF THE LIFE PRESERVER EXPERIMENT by Phil Siegel There once was a Navy in a country we all know. One of its Admirals had a brilliant idea. If one life preserver works well and saves lives maybe two will work better. So they ran an experiment by throwing sailors into the water and tossing them two life preservers…one ...
I have had a great time until now working for Math Happens. The goal of this organization is to teach children, but I have ended up learning more than I have to offer to the children!
Viyang Shah
UTeach