Philosophy of Mathspeaking topic
A student can have the higher pass rate in math and in literature separately, yet still fall behind someone else overall. You can win every battle and lose the war. Why does the total contradict the truth of its parts?
— Simpson's paradox
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- How does Newcomb's paradox, with its question of what rational choice means when facing a being that can predict the future, split decision theory in two?
- A lily pad on a lake doubles every day, and on day 30 it covers the whole lake. On which day was the lake half covered? Day 29. Why does the halfway point of a disaster always look like 'no problem' until the very last moment?
- Why is the liar paradox ('This sentence is false') not just a word game, but a deep problem at the very heart of logic?
- A hotel with infinitely many rooms is completely full, not a single vacancy. Yet you can still make room for a new guest, in fact for infinitely many new guests. How can something that is full still take more?
- How does the Berry paradox ('the smallest number that cannot be defined in fewer than twenty syllables') expose the limits of language and definability?