…or rather, why playing the lottery might make sense, depending on your utility function. I once had a math teacher who proudly proclaimed that she played the lottery every week. She justified this by saying that her ticket had just as much chance to win as any other ticket, and someone often wins, so why…
…or more reasons why you should ask people out. Here’s a writeup of a psych study that attempts to discern differences in how men and women respond to sexual offers. In the study, confederates went up to random students on campus who they found attractive and asked them one of three questions: 1) would you go out…
I personally love flossing, and I have strong opinions about what kind of floss to use, but a friend who had read that post asked me, “Edward, how do I make flossing a habit?” I recently read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and Duhigg repeats throughout his book that a habit has three things:…
This is my wallet: I love my binder clip wallet. It’s frugal, and it forces me to carry as few things as is reasonable. My wallet contains the following: Clipper card Driver’s license Credit card Work badge Gym membership That’s it. Occasionally, I’ll carry $20 clipped to the back if I know I’m going somewhere…
I hate haggling. It makes me anxious, and I often feel like I get ripped off. But I have a new strategy that I effectively used on my last trip abroad: figure out how much I’m willing to pay before I even ask for a price, and then stay firm to that price. Why does this…
…or why you shouldn’t settle down until you’re at least 27. Another of my favorite math problems is the secretary problem. Let’s say that you’re trying to hire a secretary. You have n applicants for the job, and you know a priori that you have a strict ordering of the candidates once you’ve seen them (i.e….
I lied. This post isn’t about how to deal with rejection; it’s about how to make sure our fear of rejection doesn’t hold us back. I’m a strong believer that taking the initiative is the best tack in most situations. For example, you should always ask people out instead of waiting around for someone to ask…
…or why you should always ask people out. One of my favorite math problems is the stable marriage problem. Let’s say that you have n heterosexual men and n heterosexual women where each man has ranked each woman in order of mating preference, and each woman has ranked each man the same way. Can we…
