2025-11-09

模倣子 Discrete Normal Distributions

 Memetic Index 

Introduction

I'm still trying to take it all in, but a buddy of mine clued me in to the idea of Pascal's Triangle producing a distribution, a normal one, and a discrete one, in fact, for an experiment consisting of a series of binomial trials.

His idea is that this discrete distribution may be used to assess the reliability of a poll, for example, taken as a sample from a population about preference for Candidate A versus Candidate B, for instance. I may be misquoting, and I'm still chewing on this idea. He said that this information may be gotten from the "two tails" of the discrete distribution, outside of the probability value of the given sample.

Pascal's Triangle

0 1 0
0 1 1 0
0 1 2 1 0
0 1 3 3 1 0
0 1 4 6 4 1 0
01 5 10 10 5 1 0

An Example


First off, the fifth row of Pascal's Triangle, as above, is "1, 4, 6, 4, 1" which totals to 16. What does this mean? An experiment of 16 trials, 16 coin flips, will be distributed over no heads and 16 tails to 16 heads and no tails.

It might be simpler to start with the "1, 2, 1" row, the third row. There are four trials, 16 possible permutated outcomes, or 5 combinatorial outcomes.

{ tail, tail, tail, tail}
{ head, tail, tail, tail }
{ head, head, tail, tail }
{ head, head, head, tail }
{ head, head, head, head }

TTTT TTTH TTHH TTHT
THTT THTH THHH THHT
HTTT HTTH HTHH HTHT
HHTT HHTH HHHH HHHT

So the probability of getting one heads flip only is only one in sixteen. The chance of two of each is 50%. 

More Will Be Revealed


I need to get back in touch with my buddy about how to interpret the tails of this distribution, and then how to use it all to assess the likelihood of given results.

2025-11-06

Math Narcolepsy

 During a mathematics course at Columbia University, a student fell asleep in class.

When he woke up, he saw that the professor had written two problems on the whiteboard. He thought they were homework, so he noted them down in his notebook and took them home.

When he tried to solve those problems, he found them incredibly difficult. But he refused to give up. He spent hours in the library, studying through reference books, and finally, he managed to solve one problem, even though it was quite challenging.

In the next class, when the professor did not ask anything about the homework, he was surprised and stood up and asked, "Sir, why did you not ask anything about the assignment given in the last lecture?"

The professor replied, "Assignments? I just wrote them as examples of problems that scientists haven't been able to solve yet."

The student was astonished and said, "But I solved one of them! I even wrote four papers on it." His achievement was later recognized, and all four of his papers are still on display at Columbia University.

The most important thing about this story was that the student didn't hear that "there are no solutions to these problems." He simply recognized that these were difficult questions that needed to be solved, and he tried wholeheartedly to solve them—and succeeded.

This story reminds us – don't listen to those who say you can't do something. Today's generation is often surrounded by pessimism and negativity. Some people deliberately sow the seeds of failure and defeat within others.

But you have the strength to reach your goals, the power to overcome obstacles, and the courage to achieve your dreams. Just believe in yourself – and keep trying.

This student's name was George Dantzig, and this problem was taken from Math Stack Exchange.

"Dantzig proved that in the context of the Student's t-test, the only way we can create a hypothesis test that is independent of the standard deviation is to create a null test, which always rejects or accepts with equal probability, which is not practical."

Capitalism reverts to Feudalism

Bandage Dresses

 

2025-11-04

Rescuing a Dolphin

 

In 2009, famous Italian freediver Enzo Maiorca was diving with his daughter Rossana near the coast of Syracuse when something truly special happened.

As he was going deeper into the water, Enzo suddenly felt a soft tap on his back. When he turned around, he saw a dolphin—not there to play, but clearly asking for help.

The dolphin swam down, and Enzo followed. About 15 meters below the surface, they found another dolphin stuck in an old fishing net. Without wasting a moment, Enzo called to his daughter for a knife and carefully cut the net to free the dolphin.

As soon as it was free, the dolphin made a sound Enzo later described as “almost like a human cry.”

When they all reached the surface, Enzo and Rossana saw that the dolphin was a pregnant female—and just moments later, she gave birth right there in the open sea.

The male dolphin circled around them, then gently came up to Enzo, touched his cheek with its nose—like a soft kiss—and then swam away with his new little family.

Later, Enzo shared his thoughts:
“Until people learn to respect and communicate with the natural world, they’ll never truly understand their place on this planet.”

A strong reminder that nature has a voice—if we’re willing to listen.
Credit to the original source.


This reminds me of a piece I read about a whale that grabbed a diver and took him to the surface. The diver wasn't in any kind of trouble, but my take is that the whale saw the trail of bubbles going up and reckoned that that was no good for any mammal, normally, without scuba technology, and rushed in to help.