Samuelson spotted a mistake in Bacheliers work. Bachelier's model had failed to consider that stock prices cannot fall below zero. — William Poundstone Failure Copy Share Image
There is a deep connection between Bernoulli's dictum and John Kelly's 1956 publication. It turns out that Kelly's prescription can be restated… — William Poundstone Choices Copy Share Image
“In view of this, it may seem remarkable that anything as complex as a text of Hamlet exists. The observation that Hamlet… — William Poundstone Copy Share Image
Expectation is a statistical fiction, like having 2.5 children. — William Poundstone Children Copy Share Image
“In 1894 Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patents expired. Within a few years, over 6,000 local telephone companies were competing for the U.S.… — William Poundstone Graham bell Copy Share Image
Paradox is thus a much deeper and universal concept than the ancients would have dreamed. Rather than an oddity, it is a… — William Poundstone Concepts Copy Share Image
Bernoulli's real contribution was to coin a word. The word has been translated into English as "utility". It describes this subjective value… — William Poundstone Coins Copy Share Image
There were many at Bell Labs and MIT who compared Shannon's insight to Einstein's. Others found that comparison unfair - unfair to… — William Poundstone Bells Copy Share Image
Carl Friedrich Gauss, often rated the greatest mathematician of all time, played the market. On a salary of 1,000 thalers a year,… — William Poundstone All time Copy Share Image
The more improbable the message, the less "compressible" it is, and the more bandwidth it requires. This is Shannon's point: the essence… — William Poundstone Bandwidth Copy Share Image
“The stumbling block isn't the certainty effect per se. It's the way that smart people are influenced by mere words, by the… — William Poundstone Smart people Copy Share Image
The ultimate compound return rate is acutely sensitive to fat tails. — William Poundstone Compounds Copy Share Image
Your second ducat, like your second million, is never quite as sweet. — William Poundstone Like you Copy Share Image
The best paradoxes raise questions about what kinds of contradictions can occur-what species of impossibilities are possible. — William Poundstone Contradiction Copy Share Image
The engine driving the Kelly system is the "law of large numbers." In a 1713 treatise on probability, Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli… — William Poundstone Driving Copy Share Image
The assumption that anything true is knowable is the grandfather of paradoxes. — William Poundstone Assumption Copy Share Image
Shannon's most radical insight was that meaning was irrelevant. — William Poundstone Insight Copy Share Image
The story of the Kelly system is a story of secrets - or if you prefer, a story of entropy. — William Poundstone Entropy Copy Share Image
“Isn't human mind a funny thing? A bullet is a bullet, dead is dead. The reduction in probability of your demise is… — William Poundstone Human mind Copy Share Image
In The Tricky Art of Co-Existing, Sandi Toksvig navigates life's little dilemmas with wit and not-so-common sense. You'll learn the strange history… — William Poundstone Art Copy Share Image
Are there any mythical beasts which aren't simple pastiches of nature? Centaurs, minotaurs, unicorns, griffons, chimeras, sphinxes, manticores, and the like don't… — William Poundstone Animals Copy Share Image
At a bare minimum, understanding entails being able to detect an internal contradiction: a paradox. — William Poundstone Able Copy Share Image
"Average" isn't so hot at the race track given those steep track takes. "Average" is pretty decent for stocks, something like 6… — William Poundstone Average Copy Share Image
The best strategy is one that offers the highest compound return consistent with no risk of going broke. — William Poundstone Broke Copy Share Image
