(THE CONVERSATION) Probability underpins AI, cryptography and statistics. However, as the philosopher Bertrand Russell said, “Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as ...

One ball on a Plinko board is unpredictable. Drop a thousand and they form a near-perfect bell curve—one of math’s most powerful ideas for 150+ years.

Microsoft’s MSFT-2.15%decrease; red down pointing triangle Copilot chatbot has become central to its artificial-intelligence strategy as the company’s close partnership with OpenAI diminishes. But the ...

Amateur mathematicians are using artificial intelligence chatbots to solve long-standing problems, in a move that has taken professionals by surprise. While the problems in question aren’t the most ...

If someone told you that they were “probably” going to have pasta for dinner, but you later found out that they ate pizza, would you feel surprised – or even lied to? More seriously, what does it mean ...

We look into the mental health crisis affecting American youth. By Sam Sifton I am the host of The Morning. The numbers are staggering. Nearly one in four 17-year-old boys in the United States has ...

A variation of a puzzle called the “pick-up sticks problem” asks the following question: If I have some number of sticks with random lengths between 0 and 1, what are the chances that no three of ...

Sven, a sales leader, received a call from a major customer who was furious. Their order arrived late, the product was damaged, and to top it off, their invoice didn’t reflect the volume discount ...

Consider someone who’s perfectly content with their office chair. It’s not ergonomic, it doesn’t have lumbar support, but it works. Then, during a meeting or a visit to a friend’s office, they sit in ...

Entrepreneurs who build successful businesses often possess a unique ability to see what others don't—the critical bottlenecks hiding in plain sight that create frustration, inefficiency, and lost ...

Word problems try and tell students a story about the math problem in front of them. They are a useful way to connect abstract numbers to concrete situations, so students can learn early on to apply ...