Stochastic, Nerdtastic Restaurant Bill Splitting

Tuesday, July 17, 2012
By dreeves
a group of diners playing roulette with a pizza for the roulette wheel

We have worked out what we believe is the fastest fair way to split a restaurant bill! You know what the state of the art is like so this is quite a breakthrough. To be clear about the “fastest fair way” it helps to compare to the extremes. First, the slowest fair way to split a... »

How Close is Close

Thursday, May 31, 2012
By Sharad Goel
Basketball scoreboard jumbotron

Your team is down by a couple of baskets going into the final minutes of the game. Is it time to panic or is it still anyone’s to win? Plenty have certainly come back from apparently dire situations. Just last month the Lakers beat the Thunder in double overtime after being down by 11... »

How to Set Deadlines for Your Students

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
By dreeves
A student sprinting to turn in a paper right before midnight

I’m very deadline driven. So much so that I go to truly ridiculous lengths to impose deadlines on myself. The truly ridiculous lengths are needed, of course, because self-imposed deadlines are notoriously prone to getting weaseled out of. There’s another kind of deadline that is also notoriously prone to getting weaseled out of: instructor-imposed deadlines. It’s a sad fact... »

Flexible Self-Control

Sunday, March 25, 2012
By dreeves
The Beeminder bee walking down the yellow brick road to akrasia-free bliss

The problem of self-control may be a ridiculous first world problem but it's the granddaddy of first world problems and I want to solve it. We live amidst a deluge of opportunities for instant gratification, especially in the form of food and entertainment, and most of us don't handle it well. The general problem, known as akrasia, is this: you understand your own best interests when you consider them dispassionately, but in the moment your decision-making is distorted. The best time for, say, a workout is always "tomorrow".... »

The Polarization of Political Parties

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
By Sharad Goel
Donkey and Elephant walking arm in arm, wearing 'I'm with stupid' shirts

Washington has never been more partisan, right? Or is that common lament simply a trick of nostalgia? A look at the numbers reveals that the problem is not, it turns out, all in our heads: over the last four decades, Congressional polarization has steadily increased. “Not only have the Democratic and Republican parties drifted apart,... »

2011 Plus or Minus a Decade

Saturday, December 31, 2011
By dreeves
My mental image of the 2000s

End-of-year retrospectives are so over done! Let’s talk about how life has changed since 2000. And then to really make it exciting, I’ll give my predictions for what life will be like in 2021. We’ll start with an obvious one. 1. Flying became a bigger pain in the ass. I.e., the terrorists won... »