Introduction ................................................. 1
THE PROBLEMS ................................................... 35
1. The Clumsy Dishwasher Problem ........................... 37
2. Will Lil and Bill Meet at the Malt Shop? ................ 38
3. A Parallel Parking Question ............................. 40
4. A Curious Coin-Flipping Game ............................ 42
5. The Gamow-Stern Elevator Puzzle ......................... 45
6. Steve's Elevator Problem ................................ 48
7. The Pipe Smoker's Discovery ............................. 51
8. A Toilet Paper Dilemma .................................. 53
9. The Forgetful Burglar Problem ........................... 59
10. The Umbrella Quandary ................................... 61
11. The Case of the Missing Senators ........................ 63
12. How Many Runners in a Marathon? ......................... 65
13. A Police Patrol Problem ................................. 69
14. Parrondo's Paradox ...................................... 74
15. How Long Is the Wait to Get the Potato Salad? ........... 77
16. The Appeals Court Paradox ............................... 81
17. Waiting for Buses ....................................... 83
18. Waiting for Stoplights .................................. 85
19. Electing Emperors and Popes ............................. 87
20. An Optimal Stopping Problem ............................. 91
21. Chain Reactions, Branching Processes, and Baby Boys ..... 96
MATLAB SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS .............................. 101
1. The Clumsy Dishwasher Problem .......................... 103
2. Will Lil and Bill Meet at the Malt Shop? ............... 105
3. A Parallel Parking Question ............................ 109
4. A Curious Coin-Flipping Game ........................... 114
5. The Gamow-Stern Elevator Puzzle ........................ 120
6. Steve's Elevator Problem ............................... 124
7. The Pipe Smoker's Discovery ............................ 129
8. A Toilet Paper Dilemma ................................. 140
9. The Forgetful Burglar Problem .......................... 144
10. The Umbrella Quandary .................................. 148
11. The Case of the Missing Senators ....................... 153
12. How Many Runners in a Marathon? ........................ 157
13. A Police Patrol Problem ................................ 160
14. Parrondo's Paradox ..................................... 169
15. How Long is the Wait to Get the Potato Salad? .......... 176
16. The Appeals Court Paradox .............................. 184
17. Waiting for Buses ...................................... 187
18. Waiting for Stoplights ................................. 191
19. Electing Emperors and Popes ............................ 197
20. An Optimal Stopping Problem ............................ 204
21. Chain Reactions, Branching Processes, and Baby Boys .... 213
Appendix 1. One Way to Guess on a Test ........................ 221
Appendix 2. An Example of Variance-Reduction in the
Monte Carlo Method ................................ 223
Appendix 3. Random Harmonic Sums .............................. 229
Appendix 4. Solving Montmort's Problem by Recursion ........... 231
Appendix 5. An Illustration of the Inclusion-Exclusion
Principle ......................................... 237
Appendix 6. Solutions to the Spin Game ........................ 244
Appendix 7. How to Simulate Kelvin's Fair Coin with a
Biased Coin ....................................... 248
Appendix 8. How to Simulate an Exponential Random
Variable .......................................... 252
Appendix 9. Index to Author-Created MATLAB m-Files
in the Book ....................................... 255
Glossary ...................................................... 257
Acknowledgments ............................................... 259
Index ......................................................... 261
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