The thing that makes the Monty Hall problem work isn't just that Monty eliminates a door and gives you the option to switch. The crucial element is that Monty knows what he is doing and will never reveal the car (thereby leaving you with a choice between goat1 and goat2). If that's not the case, if Monty opened a door…

The difference is that you know Monty intends to take out a goat and so the fact that Monty doesn't choose door 3 increases the chances there's a car behind it. Here, Bob isn't trying to select the poison bush, so the fact that he picks bush 2 instead of bush 3 doesn't tell you anything about bush 3. From Bob's…

Once your friend dies from either of the other bushes, your 2/3 chance of being wrong all shifts to that remaining bush - it doesn't matter if he knew or not.

Washington's name and Charlie Hedbo's cartoons were each offensive to many. The former is being objected to through peaceful, legal means like the video above. The latter was objected to through violent, illegal means like terrorism. When your options are between an offensive organization and a minority group making…

So what if a transgendered athlete has a competitive advantage? Lots of people have body types that are advantageous for some sports but not others. If I'm 6'7" I have an advantage in basketball but would likely be severely disadvantaged wrestling or playing soccer. If I'm a male-to-female transgender student with…

So what if a transgendered athlete has a competitive advantage? Lots of people have body types that are advantageous for some sports but not others. If I'm 6'7" I have an advantage in basketball but would likely be severely disadvantaged wrestling or playing soccer. If I'm a male-to-female transgender student with a…

It's not about being entitled, it's about prohibiting colleges from paying athletes should they choose to. Andrew Wiggins got to whatever school he wanted and would have gotten a full ride from any of them. He chose Kansas based on a variety of factors (coaching, NBA prospects, playing time, facilities, locations,…

I'm closer to an eight year old than an expert, but floating point just means that, since computers can't store an infinite number of digits, they chop a decimal off at some arbitrary point, say 10 digits. So if Kentucky was 680/999 before this last shot, their real percentage was .680680680680 . . . on forever, but a…

This, while stupid, misses the point. It doesn't matter whether athletes get paid indirectly though tuition, room and board and whatnot. The issue is that one form of compensation (cash) is prohibited. Let schools pay athletes (or not) based on their own calculations of whether such pay is worthwhile, just like every…