""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.
