Math Experts - Help with odds

0. My friend

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Originally posted by Tarquin

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Not really. I have two bachelor's and a master's. I'm pretty much done with my Ph.D. It happens to be in the behavioral sciences, however. Not math. I'm an expert in human behavior, not mathematics.

I do appreciate the link to the conditional probability calculation. However, this is akin to a math expert trying to understand homogenous political theory in a contemporary society. They might know what each of the words means independent of one-another, but I'd wager most wouldn't know what they meant put together or what the concept being described was.

I'd wager that homogenous political theory in contemporary society is pretty much the proposition that individuals subscribe to a collective whole, despite certain differences. Such as Tea Party members and the Socialist Workers' Party are not specifically neighbors. But they all identify as "American" in the grand scheme. Which is probably bad, because lumping things together cuts a lot of details of. Now, that's a bit broadly brushed. But, yeah. Sort of a macro thing.

Good call, Bangles. That's the meat of it. Part of it at least. Though one has to measure this theory against the very thing you're speaking about - the difference between a country (which has physical boundaries) and a nation (which has geographic areas, but those boundaries change constantly, aren't always connected and there are never any official lines in the sand).

A nation is different than a country, (Jewish Nation or Hebrew Nation versus a Jewish State [Israel] for example). One could say that "the west" (Britain, France, Germany, the United States and others) are all one "nation" but not one country, and this of course would undermine the argument that we have a collective whole any more - because of many factors.

Essentially it's stating that we do all consent to a social contract, but that the contract we all consent to differs greatly, even though we're technically one society - whereas historically that wasn't as true. Like people tended to gather with like people and it was hard for nation-states to control those events. Now however, it's very possible for nation-states to create boundaries that break apart a nation, or that squeeze two different nations together.

So really, the statement you gave is a pretty good start. But that's really only one side of a many-sided die, and it's all part of a larger concept that may or may not even function in the real world any more.

So it's sort of like me looking at the math page on the wiki. I get the basics. I understand what the word "probability" means, and I can even do some of the basic algebra. But actually computing odds is pretty high-end shit. I could understand large chunks of that wiki page, but at the end of the day I truly just don't understand some of the high-level computations they're using, or why they work. I certainly can't just read that page and then go figure out the odds I want to figure out - because I can't apply everything I've read. It's simply beyond my current level of understanding.

But I'm not looking to become an expert bookie either. I don't even like to gamble, actually. I'm just trying to figure out which pirate can slam three cherry smoothies the fastest.

I'm pretty fucking awesome.

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Originally posted by Bangledesh

I'm pretty fucking awesome.

Actually, yeah. If you understand that concept (which I presume you do) rather than just having pieced together the meaning of the words. Maybe you should look into a field in human behavior in the future.

Much like certain maths and sciences, some people have a natural knack for human behavior. If that interests you and those types of topics seem fascinating, I'd encourage taking a course or two in Anthropology, Psychology or even Sociology. Poli Sci is really cool, as is Economics, but they're pretty dry at the entry level so they may not spark your interest the way things like monkeys, sex, and crazy people do.

I like Econ because it leads to monkeys, sex and crazy people, and I like Poli Sci because it's what happens when monkeys have sex and turn into crazy people. So those are sort of where it all starts and where it all ends, but most people think the stuff in between is the most interesting.

Anyway, I never took a human behavior course that I didn't love and learn a lot from, so... I encourage it if you have that kind of interest. Just try it out. There are a lot of things you can do in the human behavior fields. You won't ever be out of work for long, that's for sure.

WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE stop this madness!!!!!!!

Someone please talk about boobies

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Originally posted by Tarquin

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Fuck it. It's for a pirate eating contest in a cartoon world of fiction.

Yep, that's definitely the first time I've ever seen that sentence.

Also, is it different pirates having an eating contest, or are the pirates actually the food?

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Originally posted by jhope1

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Yep, that's definitely the first time I've ever seen that sentence.

Also, is it different pirates having an eating contest, or are the pirates actually the food?

It's different pirates having an eating contest. They get different foods too, but that's not the important part because I've got that worked out.

Quote:

Originally posted by Tarquin

Okay, so I was able to figure some stuff out. For starters, the game in question doesn't show who placed in what position. All it shows is the winner.

So let's say we have the same four racers in each race, and they come down like this:

1: A
2: A
3: A
4: B
5: B
6: C

All we know is who won between A, B, C and D. Is the odds calculation as simple as I think it is? A is 2:1, B is 3:1, C: 4:1, and D is infinity:1?

I'd put my money on D. The way I see it, D is way overdue for a win. This is why I'm a terrible gambler.

I could totally drink a couple cherry smoothies right now.

I down for a pie eating contest.

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Originally posted by F1098

I down for a pie eating contest.

huehuehue, I know what you're saying.