Related papers: How does a coin toss? A look under an asymptotic m…
Imagine a sequence in which the first letter comes from a binary alphabet, the second letter can be chosen on an alphabet with 10 elements, the third letter can be chosen on an alphabet with 3 elements and so on. When such a sequence can be…
The "anomalous" values of C. Ferrie and J. Combes in Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120404 (2014) say nothing about quantum - or even classical - physics. They are not analogues of the weak values that emerge when we describe the quantum world via…
Many have dedicated their time trying to determine the ideal conditions for a cylinder to have equal probabilities of falling with one of its faces facing upwards or on its side. However, to this day, there is no concrete analysis of what…
Consider $n$ independent, biased coins, each with a known probability of heads. Presented with an ordering of these coins, flip (i.e., toss) each coin once, in that order, until we have observed both a *head* and a *tail*, or flipped all…
We count the number and patterns of pairs and tuples of independent events in a simple random experiment: first a fair coin is flipped and then a fair die is tossed. The first number, equal to 888,888, suggest that there are some open…
Randomness comes in two qualitatively different forms. Apparent randomness can result both from ignorance or lack of control of degrees of freedom in the system. In contrast, intrinsic randomness should not be ascribable to any such cause.…
The manner in which spin-polarized electrons interact with a magnetized thin film is currently described by a semi-classical approach. This in turn provides our present understanding of the spin transfer, or spin torque phenomenon. However,…
Efron [Biometrika 58 (1971) 403--417] developed a restricted randomization procedure to promote balance between two treatment groups in a sequential clinical trial. He called this the biased coin design. He also introduced the concept of…
We study the formation of knots on a macroscopic ball-chain, which is shaken on a horizontal plate at 12 times the acceleration of gravity. We find that above a certain critical length, the knotting probability is independent of chain…
The laws of chance are often subtle and deceptive. This is why games of chance work. People are convinced that they obey seemingly intuitive laws, while the underlying mathematical structure reveals a different and more complex reality.…
This paper questions the generally accepted assumption that one can make a random choice that is independent of the rest of the universe. We give a general description of any setup that could be conceived to generate random numbers. Based…
We introduce a notion of computable randomness for infinite sequences that generalises the classical version in two important ways. First, our definition of computable randomness is associated with imprecise probability models, in the sense…
Present quantum theory, which is statistical in nature, does not predict joint probability distribution of position and momentum because they are noncommuting. We propose a deterministic quantum theory which predicts a joint probability…
Suppose you and your friend both do $n$ tosses of an unfair coin with probability of heads equal to $\alpha$. What is the behavior of the probability that you obtain at least $d$ more heads than your friend if you make $r$ additional…
An unbiased coin is tossed $n$ times independently and sequentially. In this paper, we will study the length of the longest consecutive switches, and prove that the limit behaviors are similar to that of the length of the longest head-run.
Behavioural economics provides labels for patterns in human economic behaviour. Probability weighting is one such label. It expresses a mismatch between probabilities used in a formal model of a decision (i.e. model parameters) and…
The Sleeping Beauty problem is a puzzle in probability theory that has gained much attention since Elga's discussion of it [Elga, Adam, Analysis 60 (2), p.143-147 (2000)]. Sleeping Beauty is put asleep, and a coin is tossed. If the outcome…
We argue using simple models that all successful practical uses of probabilities originate in quantum fluctuations in the microscopic physical world around us, often propagated to macroscopic scales. Thus we claim there is no physically…
This paper presents and defends an argument that the continuum hypothesis is false, based on considerations about objective chance and an old theorem due to Banach and Kuratowski. More specifically, I argue that the probabilistic inductive…
Because the stochastic calculus yields rarely random variables with laws defined by explicit closed formulas, probabilistic numerical computations are done most often by simulation. The simulation by the shift, whose field of application is…