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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the expert in this chapter?

2. What is the probability of 2 people being linked by 2 intermediates?

3. What is the name of the mathematician who sees everything in numbers?

4. Which staff member is mentioned?

5. What restaurant is referenced?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Paulos' suggestion for making math more understandable to the general public?

2. Who is the second famous doctor introduced by Paulos? Which topic was this doctor fascinated by?

3. What is the coincidence surrounding Christopher Columbus?

4. What is the example used to separate numerates from innumerates?

5. Where does the author believe most people fit in?

6. What is the example used by Paulos to demonstrate the connections between people?

7. Discuss the first of the most famous examples of coincidence.

8. Why does Paulos argue about the existence of coincidences?

9. What is the Archimedes Principle?

10. The first example Paulos uses about percentages relates to weather forecasters. What is the mistake?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Name at least five major or famous examples of probabilities and coincidences such as the Lincoln/Kennedy connection and the Columbus/Fermi correlation. Explain each in a coincidental sense and a probability sense.

Essay Topic 2

Paulos tells a story of a man who is afraid of a bomb being aboard his airplane. Recount the story and the motive behind the man's actions. Does it make sense to you? According to Paulos' explanation, was it a logical or irrational move? What are the probabilities that the man was right? What are the odds that the bomb would go off in the man's briefcase? What might you have done in a similar situation?

Essay Topic 3

The example of two drug traffickers is used to illustrate one of Paulos' theories. What was it? Do you think the example was accurate? Was it informative? Which result was most likely to happen? Could the outcome have been predicted? How? If you were to predict the outcome without knowing the value of the product, what would you predict? Why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 610 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample