Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Probability + Life... How Beautiful

Probability is all around us, and at times it can work to either our advantage or disadvantage. Sometimes, when life hands us an unfortunate situation, like an extremely large man conveniently jumping into the pool during the 7 seconds Ms. Mariner was near him in the pool.  First of all, when there are 15 open lanes in a pool, and someone decides to get into the one RIGHT next to you, you should immediately resort to thinking that this person is a bit on the socially uneducated side of the spectrum. There was a mere 1 in 15 chance that he would be next to Ms. Mariner, and of course, he proved to be that 6.77%.  Because she is a speedy swimmer, averaging around 22.5 seconds per 25 meters, there was a high probability of 31.1% that she would have some sort of altercation with this very attractive fella, so in order to have minimized her chances, it would have been beneficial to her if she swam slower, allowing the man to adjust himself in the pool, assuming he didn't sink to the bottom.

I live anywhere from a wonderful 4 minutes to a horrific 7 minutes away from school, and this three minute differentiation results from traffic lights.  Nothing kills my vibe more than getting every red light, and every day, the duration of each green/red light changes, so i never know if i will make the next one.  Each of the 4 lights that i go though everyday can be either red, yellow, or green.  Considering that I am a good driver, yet I like to reach my destination in a timely manner, I will count yellow as a "GO."  The probability of me having to "STOP" for all 4 lights is 1/81, but it seems like this happens AT LEAST 3 times a week.  If only the odds were always in my favor, but I guess that just isn't the case :(

No comments:

Post a Comment