4 amusing money fails
People often do stupid things when they are trying to save money. Here are a few amusing tales that gave me a chuckle and made me remember some basic money lessons. 1. Texas man rescued from chimney said he was trying to save money

A free throw game
In honor of the NBA lockout ending, today's post is related to basketball. It's a fun and relatively easy math problem about shooting free throws:

Puzzle: polynomial guessing game
If you love math as much as I do, then today's puzzle should be an absolute delight. The puzzle was originally submitted as "A Perplexing Polynomial Puzzle" in College Mathematics Journal, March 2005, p. 100. (link) H/T: Math Nexus, Delightful puzzles Here is the puzzle:

Puzzle: slicing up a pie
image by Paul Smith Holiday parties are one of the few times that I enjoy eating pies. This is a fun and easy problem about the mathematics of slicing a pie:

How many leftover menus can you make? (math problem)
After the feast of Thanksgiving, I enjoy slowly nibbling away at the leftovers. You'd be surprised how much variety you can get out of leftovers. Here's a math problem that illustrates the idea.

Puzzle: mischievous child
Kids can sometimes get out of control at parties, and today's puzzle is about a child that finds it amusing to mess with the drink setup. Here is the puzzle:

Puzzle: odds of a comeback victory
You're favorite sports team is down at halftime, but you are hoping they can pull it together and eek out a victory. What are the odds of that happening? The probability obviously depends on the exact game in question. But I came across an interesting probability problem that gives an interesting ...

Monday puzzle: the 6 glasses problem
Before I get to the puzzle, I have a small note about posts. Thanksgiving is a special time of year, and accordingly I am doing something special for this blog. This week Mind Your Decisions will run puzzles and fun problems all week long. I hope you enjoy them--regular posts ...

To save money, just think “I can wait”
This article is inspired by something my friend once told me. He said, "It's going to be awesome. I can't wait for the new Batman movie to come out." I realize this is a totally ordinary statement, particularly because my friend is a huge Batman fan. And no doubt I have ...

Company size vs talent: which one is more important? (Math problem)
There are always tradeoffs when picking one company over another. Imagine for a second you are thinking about picking between a standard position at a straight-forward, large company versus a fun position at an exciting smaller business. Which one is more appealing to you? There are many reasons people pick one ...

The rule of 6: a way to estimate interest earned when making monthly deposits
Last week I explained how to calculate interest using the APY from a bank or savings account. The short summary was this: the APY tells you the percent interest you can earn if you make a lump sum deposit for one year. The basic method for calculating interest is: Interest earned ...

The game of Morra: a fun alternative to rock-paper-scissors
People have long thought up ways to solve small disputes at random, from flipping a coin to playing a game of rock-paper-scissors. The other day I came across another game that dates all the way back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The game is called Morra. While there are many variations ...

Monday puzzle: science experiment
This is a puzzle that my cousin sent to me that I really enjoyed: A chemistry teacher offers his class an experiment for extra credit. To complete the lab, students are to keep bacteria in a special chamber for exactly 9 minutes. The sadistic part is the teacher only gives the students ...

My new respect for freelancers, bloggers, and independent workers
This article is a little bit off topic, but it has been on my mind and I wanted to blog about it. About a year ago, I transitioned from writing as a side activity into a full-time pursuit. I knew from the start it would be hard to do the work, ...

Interest calculation from an APY on a bank account
Bank accounts are full of jargon and sometimes it can be confusing to understand all of the terms. I got an email the other day from someone who had some questions about opening a bank account. Specifically, the person was curious about how the APY was calculated and how that related ...