(no subject)

[xela]

It turns out one of my favorite newer West Wing characters, Elsie Snuffin, who I think of as "Will's smarter sister", is a math geek in real life, with a published proof to her credit. She even has a math section on her official fan site, where she answers fan's questions with discursive, tutorial-style answers.

Q: I think you are great on "The West Wing"! Here’s my current problem, it’s in advanced finite math (I’m a high school senior): At the height of the Beatles’ popularity, it was estimated that every popular music station played their music 40% of the time. If you tuned through 10 such stations at any given moment, what is the probability that at least *one* of the stations would be playing a Beatles song? Thanks!

Danica Answers: A probability question! Okay, let’s call "x" the probability that "at least one of the 10 stations would be playing a Beatles song at that moment." That’s what we’re asked to find. Then let’s call "y" the probability that "none of those 10 stations would be playing a Beatles song at that moment." Notice that x+y = 1.... Okay, so we’ll now determine the value of "y" which is much easier than going through all the necessary calculations required to determine "x" directly. This is a common strategy in probability....

I am so amused.

Comments

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how much has been written about graphs whose connections are divided among two or more classes that are not treated equivalently, but mathematicians do ponder everything so someone must have..

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Well, think about it. If I had a Bacon number of 4, and it was a Bacon number of 2 to Danica McKellar, and she had an Erdos number of 2... it is 4 steps to Bacon plus 2 to Danica plus 2 to Erdos. And I'd have an Erdos number of 8.

Of course, that is a bit silly, now that I think about it, since I am obviously wrong. The only way to get an Erdos number is to write a mathematical paper, and the only way to get a Bacon number is to star in a movie.

You can't connect the graphs in a meaningful way.