Conversation over dinner

B. You know that law that says if you flip a coin it will even out at 50% heads, 50% tails?

G. Yeah. I know it.

B. Well I just don’t believe it’s true.

G. Why not?

B. Because every single time I unloop the hose from the tap and pull it up to the veggie garden, the loops twist and strangulate and no water comes out, so I have to go back and undo the strangulation. It’s so annoying. It happens every time. If the law is correct, it should be OK half the time. Right?

G. Wrong. You’ve created a situation that activates a problem…which happens to happen every time.

B. Humph. Well, how about this? Every time – every single time – I spend time to give the garden a thorough water, it rains the very next day.

G. Wrong again. You just THINK it happens every time because it annoys you.

B. Then how about the paper delivery? Every time – every single time – we go away and cancel the paper, the paper man forgets and we come back to a week of sodden papers all over the garden.

G. Spare me. It happened twice. Anyway, probability’s not a law, it’s a theory. Probability theory.

B. Well, call me mathematically challenged, but I think probability theory sucks.

G. And I think you are just getting old and cranky.

June 2019

Answer to LP4.

corn