'Chance': Maths & Y(our) Life

Hey there,

I’m Louis and I study Maths with Computing at Middlesex. Maths has always interested me and I’m ever more fascinated by how well maths describes our lives.

Chance is something that is surrounding us every day and doesn’t only describe how we succeed, but also how we interact with others. For example, 25% of drivers used their phones before an accident and said: “It won’t be me”. Also, the chance of winning the lottery is 1 in 45000000, but people still argue that: “You never know”.

There are quite a few events that we might relate to something other than a structured science, but in fact, maths can help us to rethink decisions and add a unique point of view to our choice.

Sometimes that is quite easy, for example the chance for a candidate to become the next MDX- SU president. There are 10 candidates and 1 free space so, simplifying our thought process and forgetting about other factors such the publicity of that candidate etc. we can reduce the chance to 1/10=10%. That was easy.

Whether you want to become the next president of the Middlesex Students Union or the president of the United States of America you’ll have to spend some time on maths to understand ‘chance’. The chance to win but, also, how to effectively increase the chance of winning. And that’s what I’m here for as an SLA. Alongside tutors from the Design and Engineering department, I work in the Maths Help Centre (Hendon Library) which is open for students from ALL courses every day from 1pm-3pm. Whatever (maths related) queries you’re trying to solve or projects you’re working on, we’re there to support you and get it done. Problem solving is a big topic in maths and I would even claim that its usual for a mathematician to be stuck in a scientific problem. However, we can solve that together and improve your skills in teamwork. Knowing this, what might be the chances I meet you there in the future?