The Art of Randomness: Prof. Jeffrey Rosenthal on Probability & Statistics

Undercurrent Stories

Do you use a fitness tracker? Do you ever read or leave reviews on Trip Advisor or Amazon? Have you read the weather forecast for today? And what about polls for elections? All these are just a few examples of the use of statistics. It seems that statistics, data and algorithms are increasingly used to inform, educate and persuade us.

Then on another level how can we make sense of the odds of something. Could be the odds of winning the jackpot on a lottery or even the chance of being struck by lightning? We may regard ourselves as lucky or unlucky. So the big question is on one hand we have the science and all the data to give us considered answers and on the other our society’s belief and superstition with such things as bad luck happens in 3s, touching a piece of wood, 4 leaf clovers and black cats. What is the answer?

Well here to help us make sense of it all I am delighted to be joined by Professor Jeffrey Rosenthal. Jeffrey is Professor of Statistics at the University of Toronto and author of several books with his most recent book being Knock on Wood: Luck, Chance and the Meaning of Everything. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Knock-Wood-Chance-Meaning-Everything/dp/1443453072
Professor Jeffrey's links;
http://probability.ca/jeff/
https://x.com/ProbabilityProf
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Intro and outro music, 'Time for a Coffee' Robert J. Wells © 2020

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