Horizon – Alan and Marcus Go Forth and Multiply

This episode of Horizon is found on the BBC iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jmzdk/Horizon_20082009_Alan_and_Marcus_Go_Forth_and_Multiply/.

Comedian Alan Davies and Professor Marcus du Sautoy go on a journey to help explain how mathematics is used to help our understanding of the way the universe works and is put together. Of particular relevence was a piece of maths based around a game of probability around the use of 3 cups and 1 prize. The essence of the game is that there is one prize under one of the cups that the player must guess. He makes his first guess and then the person in charge of the cups will then lift up one of the other cups that does not feature the prize. Now this is where it gets slightly confusing as now there are two cups left most people would assume it would be a 50/50 chance of being right but in fact your chances double if the player chooses to swap cups from their original choice.

This theory still has me scratching my head but their demonstration seemed to be pretty conculsive so this is perhaps some kind of game that I can work into my exhibition as it talks about chance and probability and how our choices have a direct impact.

Advertisement