Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A variation of a puzzle called the “pick-up sticks problem” asks the following question: If I have some number of sticks with ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

Probability underpins AI, cryptography and statistics. However, as the philosopher Bertrand Russell said, “Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the ...

There are 36 cards labeled with the numbers 1 through 36 and then placed face down on a table. If four cards are revealed one after the other, what is the probability that each card’s number is larger ...

A drawer contains 12 identical black socks and 12 identical white socks. If you pick two socks at random, what is the probability of getting a matching pair? That was ...