Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW
With Professor David J. Hand OBE FBA
Why is it that incredibly unlikely coincidences and ‘miracles’, actually happen quite regularly, and why should we, in fact, expect such things to happen in our lives?
Eminent statistician David J. Hand will be arguing that extraordinarily rare events are commonplace, and we should all expect to experience ‘a miracle’ roughly once every month!
This talk will appeal to all those who love stories about startling coincidences and extraordinarily rare events, and also to everyone who is interested in how a single bold idea links areas as diverse as gambling, the weather, airline disasters and creative writing; as well as potentially helping to explain the origins of life and even the universe itself! The Improbability Principle explains why we should not be surprised to bump into a friend in a foreign country, as well as answering seemingly less explicable questions such as why financial crashes are par for the course, and why lightning does strike the same place (and hit the same person!) twice. David will also demonstrate how to use the Improbability Principle in our own lives, including how to cash in at a casino, and how to recognize when a medicine is truly effective.
David Hand is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Imperial College, London and is the author of the bestselling books The Improbability Principle and Statistics: A Very Short Introduction.
“A fascinating and entertaining look at bizarre coincidences and ‘miracles’, and how the laws of probability influence our lives”
Free entry (donations appreciated). Everyone welcome!
Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:
http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/
You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.
Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.
No comments:
Post a Comment