Why Do Buses Come in Threes

Jeremy Wyndham, Robert Eastaway

Description

"Deals in a very entertaining way with problems in normal life related to mathematics, luck, coincidence, gambling." - The Independent (London)

Why do your chances of winning the lottery increase if you buy your ticket on Friday? Why do traffic lights always seem to be red when you're in a hurry? Is bad luck just chance, or can it be explained?

The intriguing answers to these and other questions about the curiosities of everyday life can be found in this delightfully irreverent and highly informative book. Why Do Buses Come in Threes? explains how math and the laws of probability are constantly at work in our lives, affecting everything we do, from getting a date to catching a bus to cooking dinner. With great humor and a genuine love for the subject, Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham present solutions to such conundrums as how fast one should run in the rain to stay dry and who was the greatest sportsman of all time. Discover the mathematical explanations for the strange coincidence of two Presidents dying on July 4, the uncanny "accuracy" of horoscopes, and other not-so-coincidental coincidences. Eastaway and Wyndham also reveal how television ratings work, which numbers are more likely to be big winners in the lottery, and why bad things, just like buses, always seem to happen in threes.

Whether you have a degree in astrophysics or haven't touched a math problem since high school, this book sends you on a fascinating journey through the logic of life where Newton's laws explain bar fights, exploding rabbit populations, and why showers always run either too hot or too cold. Why Do Buses Come in Threes? is a delightfully entertaining ride that reveals the relevance of math in absolutely everything we do.

Sujets

• Recreations
• Sciences et techniques
• Mathematics
• Games
• Math (homonymie)

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 24 février 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780471673217
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Why do buses come in threes?
Why do buses come in threes?
The hidden mathematics of everyday life
Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham
Illustrations by Barbara Shore
John Wiley Sons, Inc. New York Chichester Weinheim Brisbane Singapore Toronto
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 1998 Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc. Published simultaneously in Canada.
First published in Great Britain in 1998 by Robson Books Ltd, Bolsover House, 5-6 Clipstone Street, London, W1P 8LE, England.
Illustrations by Barbara Shore
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission in writing of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax [phone], email: [e-mail] .
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eastaway, Robert. Why do buses come in threes? : the hidden mathematics of everyday life / Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham ; illustrations by Barbara Shore. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-471-34756-6 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 0-471-37907-7 (paper: alk. paper) 1. Mathematics Popular works. I. Wyndham, Jeremy. II. Title. QA93.E18 1999 510-dc21
99-21915
10 9 8 7
Contents
Foreword by Tim Rice
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Why can t I find a four-leafed clover?
Links between nature and mathematics
2 Which way should I go?
From postmen to taxi drivers
3 How many people watch Friends ?
Most public statistics come from surveys, but how reliable are they?
4 Why do clever people get things wrong?
Sometimes experience and intelligence can be a disadvantage
5 What s the best bet?
Lotteries, horses and casinos all offer the chance of a big prize
6 How do you explain a coincidence?
Coincidences aren t as surprising as you would think
7 What s the best view of the Statue of Liberty?
Everyday geometries, from snooker to statues
8 How do you keep a secret?
Code-making and breaking isn t just for spies
9 Why do buses come in threes?
Travelling without a car leads to all sorts of conundrums
10 What s the best way to cut a cake?
Why four o clock can be the time for some mathematical headaches
11 How can I win without cheating?
Almost everything in life can be analysed as a game
12 Who s the best in the world?
The mathematics behind sports rankings
14 What happened to chapter 13?
Can bad luck be explained?
15 Whodunnit?
Everyday logic, from murder mysteries to political statistics
16 Why am I always in traffic jams?
Motorways, escalators and supermarkets all have one thing in common: queues
17 Why are showers always too hot or too cold?
From squealing microphones to population explosions
18 How can I get the meal ready on time?
Critical paths and other scheduling problems
19 How can I entertain the kids?
Numbers can be magic
References
Index
Forward
We did not invent mathematics, we discovered it. It exists in every aspect of our lives, serious or light-hearted, momentous or trivial. The subject is often misunderstood and unreasonably feared, yet it is simpler and more logical than any language. When we gaze up into the skies at night, wondering at the beauty and inaccessibility of the stars, when we get into a bath displacing (in my case quite a lot of) water, when we read the football results or toss a coin, knowledge of mathematics and its related disciplines can help us enjoy and understand, even predict and prepare for the future.
My three greatest enthusiasms as a child were for cricket, pop music and astronomy. All three, though I did not realise it at the time, came about because of statistics - the batting averages, the pop charts, the sizes and distances of the planets. That common strand of numbers to these apparently unconnected topics launched me into three lifelong passions, and there have been plenty of other occasions when figures have been the basis for a new interest, although my lack of success at roulette and with bookmakers over the years has occasionally made me wish this had not always been so.
The most beautiful pieces of music can be broken down mathematically - all notes have a numerical relationship to each other, vibrating in harmony, unison or discord - the purer and more straightforward the mathematical connection, the sweeter the sound. I am not suggesting that Mozart or Bob Dylan should only be listened to with a calculator to hand, and I doubt whether either created his works of emotional genius with oscillations per minute in his mind, but if some higher being did not, I should be very surprised.
Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham claim that this book is fun and they are dead right. From potato crisps to snooker balls, from card tricks to insurance, from code-breaking to bus-waiting, everything herein reminds us how mathematics rules and enhances our existence.
Tim Rice
Acknowledgments
Much of the inspiration for this book came from the work of Martin Gardner, who has done so much to popularise mathematics in the last forty years. We would also like to give special thanks to David Wells for contributing so many ideas; to David Singmaster for access to his library and his own encyclopaedic knowledge of mathematical recreations; and to Malcolm Field for his mathematical expertise.
We are indebted to those who painstakingly looked through the early drafts of this manuscript, especially to Martin Daniels, Steve Barsky, David Flavell and Sarah Wyndham. Thanks also to Jack Eastaway, Barbara Brown, Tony Taylor, Harold Lind, Jo Lehrman and Sam Banks.
In addition, Lionel Titman, Tim Jones, Craig Dibble, Hugh Jones, Darren Nicholls, Dennis Sherwood, Paul Harris, Cheryl Kramer, Richard Hamill, Chris Healey, Susan Blackmore, Martin Turner, Helen Nicol, Emma Rushton and Michael Balle provided us with helpful contributions.
Charlotte Howard deserves a special mention for her encouragement, as does everyone at Robson Books and John Wiley for their enthusiastic support.
And finally, thank you Elaine and Sarah for being such enthusiastic and understanding supporters throughout.
Introduction
Mathematics is fascinating, beautiful, sometimes even magical. It is relevant to just about everything that we do, and full of topics suitable for the most stimulating dinner party conversations. That may not be the popular view, but it is certainly ours and we hope it might be yours too. Math has had a bad press for far too long, and it is time to put the case for the defence. This book is for anybody who is interested in reminding themselves - or discovering for the first time - that mathematics is an essential part of our lives.
Have you ever asked yourself why it is that buses come in threes? As a child, did you share the frustration of not finding a four-leafed clover? When you bump into an old friend miles from home, do you smile to yourself in amazement that coincidences like this can happen? Occurrences like these interest everyone, and the explanations behind all of them are mathematical. But maths doesn t just answer questions. It also provides new insights and it stimulates curiosity. Gambling, travelling, dating, eating, even deciding whether or not to run when it s raining, all involve elements of maths.
Books about popular and recreational mathematics can often seem abstract and inaccessible to those who have lost touch with the subject since their schooldays. We have tried to bring maths back into real, everyday life. That s why every chapter begins with a question that might occur to anybody. The choice of material reflects our personal interests rather than any grand logical scheme. Some bits are easy reading, others require a little more thought, but whatever your mathematical ability there will be plenty here for you.
Dotted through the book you will find practical uses for probability theory, as well as surprising applications of tangents, Fibonacci series, pi, matrices, Venn diagrams, prime numbers and more. We hope you find these subjects as thought-provoking and stimulating as we do. Above all, we want you to enjoy it.
1
WHY CAN T I FIND A FOUR-LEAFED CLOVER?
Links between nature and mathematics.
One of the magical adventures of childhood is searching for a four-leafed clover. It s the next best thing to hunting for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Unfortunately, both of these quests usually end in disappointment. It is easy to give up on the rainbow s gold because the rainbow has usually disappeared before the child s curiosity, but the hunt for the clover is much more frustrating. It seems perfectly reasonable that somewhere there should be one with four leaves. So why does nature so rarely deliver?
Next time you are out in the garden or in the countryside, take a little time to study the flowers. You ll find that the commonest number of petals on a flower is five. Buttercups, mallow, pansies, primroses, rhododendrons, tomato blossom, geraniums this is just a sample from the large number of flower families that have picked the number five. Even a flower