I generally dislike Verizon’s current commercials, but the commercial about infinity has to be my least favorite, largely because it implies things that are mathematically wrong. In the commercial, the man asks the kids, “what’s the largest number you can think of?” The commercial is of course a bit tongue-in-cheek, with one child answering “10”,…
…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….
…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…
