Related papers: Bertrand's paradox: a physical solution
We develop a likelihood methodology which can be used to search for evidence of burst repetition in the BATSE catalog, and to study the properties of the repetition signal. We use a simplified model of burst repetition in which a number…
We consider the problem of estimating the probability of an observed string drawn i.i.d. from an unknown distribution. The key feature of our study is that the length of the observed string is assumed to be of the same order as the size of…
In this paper, we study the distance problem in the setting of finite p-adic rings. In odd dimensions, our results are essentially sharp. In even dimensions, we clarify the conjecture and provide examples to support it. Surprisingly,…
The well-known problem of classical mechanics considered by Bertrand (1857) and Darboux (1901) is reviewed in the context of Cartan's geometry.
This work discusses the concept of roulette, the generated curves that occur when one curve rolls without slipping along another, tracing the path of a fixed point. The coin paradox and Aristotle's wheel paradox are used as pedagogical…
The Fr\'echet distance is a popular distance measure for curves which naturally lends itself to fundamental computational tasks, such as clustering, nearest-neighbor searching, and spherical range searching in the corresponding metric…
A modification and generalisation of von Plato's fix of the frequency theory of probability is presented. It is thermodynamic in nature. Von Plato already fixed the logical circle in the frequency theory, we generalise his results to not…
We introduce the following natural generalization of trace reconstruction, parameterized by a deletion probability $\delta \in (0,1)$ and length $n$: There is a length $n$ string of probabilities, $S=p_1,\ldots,p_n,$ and each "trace" is…
We analyse a little known aspect of the Klein paradox. A Klein-Gordon boson appears to be able to cross a supercritical rectangular barrier without being reflected, while spending there a negative amount of time. The transmission mechanism…
Break a stick at random at $n-1$ points to obtain $n$ pieces. We give an explicit formula for the probability that every choice of $k$ segments from this broken stick can form a $k$-gon, generalizing similar work. The method we use can be…
This paper relates both to the metaphysics of probability and to the physics of time asymmetry. Using the formalism of decoherent histories, it investigates whether intuitions about intrinsic time directedness that are often associated with…
Metric distortion in social choice is a framework for evaluating how well voting rules minimize social cost when both voters and candidates exist in a shared metric space, with a voter's cost defined by their distance to a candidate. Voters…
Demonstrations of quantum entanglement which confirm the violation of Bell's inequality indicate that under certain conditions action at a distance is possible. This consequence seems to contradict the relativistic principle of causality,…
We consider whether the asymptotic distributions for the log-likelihood ratio test statistic are expected to be Gaussian or chi-squared. Two straightforward examples provide insight on the difference.
Regard the closed interval $[0,1]$ as a stick. Partition $[0,1]$ into $n+1$ different intervals $I_1, \ \dots \ , I_{n+1},$ where $n \geq 2,$ which represent smaller sticks. The classical Broken Stick problem asks to find the probability…
Hardy conjectured that the error term arising from approximating the number of lattice points lying in a radius-$R$ disc by its area is $O(R^{1/2+o(1)})$. One source of support for this conjecture is a folklore heuristic that uses i.i.d.…
The history of structural optimization as an exact science begins possibly with the celebrated Lagrange problem: to find a curve which by its revolution about an axis in its plane determines the rod of greatest efficiency. The Lagrange…
The primary objective of this paper is to revisit Simpson's paradox using a statistical misspecification perspective. It is argued that the reversal of statistical associations is sometimes spurious, stemming from invalid probabilistic…
In the standard formulation of the twin paradox an accelerated twin considers himself as at rest and his brother as moving. Hence, when formulating the twin paradox, one uses the general principle of relativity, i.e. that accelerated and…
Three points uniformly selected on the unit circle form a triangle containing a point $X$ at distance $r \in [0; 1]$ from its center with probability $P(r) = \frac{1}{4} - \frac{3}{2 \pi^2}\textrm{Li}_2(r^2)$, where $\textrm{Li}_2$ is the…