Chance News 56: Difference between revisions
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You can see the context of this comment [http://www.scientific-computing.com/features/feature.php?feature_id=223 here]. | You can see the context of this comment [http://www.scientific-computing.com/features/feature.php?feature_id=223 here]. | ||
== | ==Minimizing the number of coins jingling in your pocket== | ||
[Do We Need a 37-Cent Coin? http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/do-we-need-a-37-cent-coin/] Steven d. Levitt, October 6, 2009, Freakonomics Blog, The New York Times. | |||
The current system of coins in the United States is inefficient. Patrick DeJarnette studied this problem and his work was highlighted in the Freakonomics blog. Dr. DeJarnette makes two assumptions. | |||
<blockquote>1. Some combination of coins must reach every integer value in [0,99].</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>2. Probability of a transaction resulting in value v is uniform from [0,99].</blockquote> | |||
Under this system, the average number of coins that you would receive in change during a random transaction would be 4.7. | |||
==Item2== | ==Item2== | ||
Revision as of 22:44, 7 October 2009
Quotations
I can calculate the motion of heavenly
bodies but not the madness of people
After losing a fortune in the
South Sea Company bubble of 1720
Forsooths
This forsooth is from the October 2009 RSS Forsooth.
Of course in those days we worked on the assumption that
everything was normally distributed and we have seen in the
last few months that there is no such thing as a normal distribution.
Scientific Computing World
February/March 2009
You can see the context of this comment here.
Minimizing the number of coins jingling in your pocket
[Do We Need a 37-Cent Coin? http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/do-we-need-a-37-cent-coin/] Steven d. Levitt, October 6, 2009, Freakonomics Blog, The New York Times.
The current system of coins in the United States is inefficient. Patrick DeJarnette studied this problem and his work was highlighted in the Freakonomics blog. Dr. DeJarnette makes two assumptions.
1. Some combination of coins must reach every integer value in [0,99].
2. Probability of a transaction resulting in value v is uniform from [0,99].
Under this system, the average number of coins that you would receive in change during a random transaction would be 4.7.