What do you think?
Rate this book
40 Paradoxes in Logic, Probability, and Game Theory
This book contains 40 delightful paradoxes. Here is a small sampling. Is it ever right to ask the "May I disturb you?" The very act of asking will disturb the person. And yet, I simply can't know if it's correct to ask the question unless I actually ask the question! In 2007, the college football team USC was ranked as 7th in the Harris poll, 6th in the USA Today poll, and 6th in the computer rankings. And yet, when the three polls were averaged, USC ended up as being ranked as the 5th best team overall. How is that possible? GAME You play game A that is a losing bet. You also play game B that is a losing bet. Yet when you play games A and B alternately that is a winning bet. How can two losing games combine to make a winning game?
142 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2013
112 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 19, 2021
Mind opening
Excellent read. Eye opening. You don't have to be math expert to understand the ideas presented in the book. Short and concise
Excellent read. Eye opening. You don't have to be math expert to understand the ideas presented in the book. Short and concise
July 14, 2020
40 Paradoxes in Logic, Probability, and Game Theory [Kindle Unlimited] — Presh Talwalkar ( titled chapters) July 3-11, 2020
This was one of those books I picked up thinking it was going to be one thing and having it be another. It was still good, if not what I expected. This book is truly for math nerds. Honestly, avoid this book if math never made any sense to you. Math never made a lot of sense to me but I loved the pretty circle and arcs of Geometry. :) But logic problems are mostly algebra. And some of the chapters were really interesting to read and try and figure out. (Again, I am NOT a math nerd. But I do love logic problems.)
Three stars.
This was one of those books I picked up thinking it was going to be one thing and having it be another. It was still good, if not what I expected. This book is truly for math nerds. Honestly, avoid this book if math never made any sense to you. Math never made a lot of sense to me but I loved the pretty circle and arcs of Geometry. :) But logic problems are mostly algebra. And some of the chapters were really interesting to read and try and figure out. (Again, I am NOT a math nerd. But I do love logic problems.)
Three stars.
May 26, 2025
Games and logic problems are what will be useful in real life 100% I can give an example of my personal experience of processing probabilities in the game Aviator - https://1xaviatorbd.com/ I wouldn't be able to play successfully if I didn't train my brain with such tasks. But there are also disadvantages. Some tasks are too difficult for everyday use.
February 5, 2017
Dry and not in depth
Two stars because some of the paradoxes were interesting, but in general, explained briefly and not well. I would have liked more depth in the possible solutions.
Two stars because some of the paradoxes were interesting, but in general, explained briefly and not well. I would have liked more depth in the possible solutions.
April 18, 2013
Presh Talwalkar surely took a liking in writing ebooks with mathematical problems! In this new work, he chooses to talk about paradoxes, a theme which fascinates people since the time of Zeno. A paradox, mathematically speaking, is a situation where alongside (in Greek, "para-") one opinion ("-doxa") there is another one which is mutually exclusive.
The paradoxes in the ebook are divided in three broad categories: logical, probabilistic and from game theory (Mr Talwalkar studied mathematics and economics, so the last group comes naturally). There are classical ones, nearly classical ones (Simpson's Paradox and Monty Hall problems are well known in the circles of people liking such themes), but also paradoxes quite recent, and really puzzling. But as usual the value Mr Talwalkar adds lies in the exposition of the material; he always starts with examples grounded to earth, and explains in detail what happens, and *why* it happens. Moreover there is a bibliography which allows the interested reader to explore further the problems in the book.
If you like paradoxes, or if you *fear* paradoxes, the ebook is for you!
The paradoxes in the ebook are divided in three broad categories: logical, probabilistic and from game theory (Mr Talwalkar studied mathematics and economics, so the last group comes naturally). There are classical ones, nearly classical ones (Simpson's Paradox and Monty Hall problems are well known in the circles of people liking such themes), but also paradoxes quite recent, and really puzzling. But as usual the value Mr Talwalkar adds lies in the exposition of the material; he always starts with examples grounded to earth, and explains in detail what happens, and *why* it happens. Moreover there is a bibliography which allows the interested reader to explore further the problems in the book.
If you like paradoxes, or if you *fear* paradoxes, the ebook is for you!
January 18, 2016
This is a fun, little collection of paradoxes that probably takes less than an hour to read.
If you're really into game theory, paradoxes, and thought experiments, you'll be overly familiar with some of these. Others seem a little generous to be considered a "paradox". But in any case, each paradox takes a couple minutes to read and move onto the next one.
As he does in his excellent game theory and math blog, mindyourdecisions.com, the subjects discussed are usually capably explained, though I find that in this ebook, he usually does a better job at explaining them through math than he does through words. As someone who learns better through verbal communication, there were a couple paradoxes that I thought were confusingly worded or explained and had to look up further to understand the solution.
If this is your sort of thing (as it is mine), you'll probably rapidly read through it and yearn for it to be longer.
If you're really into game theory, paradoxes, and thought experiments, you'll be overly familiar with some of these. Others seem a little generous to be considered a "paradox". But in any case, each paradox takes a couple minutes to read and move onto the next one.
As he does in his excellent game theory and math blog, mindyourdecisions.com, the subjects discussed are usually capably explained, though I find that in this ebook, he usually does a better job at explaining them through math than he does through words. As someone who learns better through verbal communication, there were a couple paradoxes that I thought were confusingly worded or explained and had to look up further to understand the solution.
If this is your sort of thing (as it is mine), you'll probably rapidly read through it and yearn for it to be longer.
August 28, 2016
enjoyable
August 7, 2021
Immaculate short read that kills time and builds up some niche mathematical paradoxes.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews