Banning GPA screening – a virtually useless recruiting policy
Did you know it's against some college recruiting policies to ask for a student's grade point average or standardized test scores? At Stanford I was a bit surprised to learn about this. In fact, the policy is explicitly written on their career website as follows:

Ping pong probability
I came across a fun problem in this math book: Suppose A and B are equally strong ping pong players. Is it more likely that A will beat B in 3 out of 4 games, or in 5 out of 8 games? It's worth doing the math on this one. And once ...

Puzzle: the camel and bananas
This is a classic puzzle that I really enjoy: You want to transport 3,000 bananas across 1,000 kilometers. You have a camel that can carry 1,000 banana at most. However, the camel must eat 1 banana for each kilometer that it walks. What is the largest number of bananas that can be ...

What’s the best place to sit in a movie theater?
In one sense, this question is simply answered. The best seat in a movie theater is the one that you enjoy the most. If you like to sit all the way in the front, or all the way in the back, then that's the best seat for you. I am ...

How much should you put your checking account?
My friend was reviewing his finances, and he realized he had a lot of money sitting in his checking account. All my friend wanted was the minimum to keep in checking. If he had enough to pay bills, rent, and get cash from ATMs, he would be covered. The rest of ...

Game Theory 101: an excellent introduction to game theory, and interview with William Spaniel
People often ask me to recommend a book that gives an introduction to game theory. Up until now I strangely did not have a proper answer. Most books either have too little math and miss out on the theory aspect, or they have way too much math and were just ...

How to split a cab fare fairly using game theory
I came across a fantastic game theory article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal Number's Guy blog all the way back in 2005. The article is about three friends who agree to share a cab, and the possible ways they can split the costs. I highly recommend you read the article. The ...