Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

Fibonacci of FIRE!

On Monday, photographer par excellence Russ Creech tweeted a photo of Katy Chalmers making a Fibonacci spiral of FIRE!

For some, words like “Fibonacci” and “fire” are enough to set the little reward bells jingling in your nerd/pyro synapses. I, however, am made of more quantitative stuff1. How “rough” was Katy’s rough Fibonacci spiral (of FIRE!)? Continue reading “Fibonacci of FIRE!”

Tyranniator

When I first heard about a radiator shaped like a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, I instantly thought “must have”1. After all, I am a fan of both making the functional inspiring and dinosaurs2. It is a great idea and at first I loved it.

Then something bothered me; and, being me, it has bothered me so much that I don’t think I could have one of these radiators in my house. Continue reading “Tyranniator”

Math Madness 4: Aftermath

Last night, the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team defeated Kansas University 67-59 to claim the school’s 8th NCAA Championship, just as I predicted about two seconds before tip-off. The point difference with 1:32 left was just 5 points. So, we can debate whether it was a close contest overall, even though the point differential was much larger for most of the game. As far as predictions go, it appears that I am either marginally clever or lucky1.

How did the Kentucky Wildcats pull off the win?

Neither team played with particular efficiency on offense. Their shot selection distributions tended to look like those of average teams, especially in their choice to shoot two point jump shots. As we talked about last night, shooting two point jump shots is correlated with losing.
Continue reading “Math Madness 4: Aftermath”

Math Madness #3: Jump Shots and Expectation

For those of you who do not embrace, much less embody, stereotypical geek indifference to athletics, you may have noticed that it is NCAA basketball tournament time. In fact, the final game between the Kansas and Kentucky is just about to tip-off. Living in the UK, I haven’t watched much college basketball this season, but I’m picking Kentucky in a close one.

Let me tell you why. Continue reading “Math Madness #3: Jump Shots and Expectation”

Questions you should ask your thesis mentor…