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Gyan (2)

The year was 1945. Two earthshaking events took place: the successful test at Alamogordo and the building of the first electronic computer. Their combined impact was to modify qualitatively the nature of global interactions between Russia and the West. No less perturbative were the changes wrought in all of academic research and in applied science. On a less grand scale these events brought about a [renaissance] of a mathematical technique known to the old guard as statistical sampling; in its new surroundings and owing to its nature, there was no denying its new name of the Monte Carlo method (PDF). -N. Metropolis

Conceptually talked about on MeFi previously, some basic Monte Carlo methods include the Inverse Transform Method (PDF) mentioned in the quoted paper, Acceptance-Rejection Sampling (PDFs 1,2), and integration with and without importance sampling (PDF).
posted by JoeXIII007 on Dec 17, 2011 - 13 comments

A Diary of Numbers: Physicist Aaron Santos, author of How Many Licks (Or, How to Estimate Damn Near Anything), uses science and math to estimate answers to life's greatest questions, including: How likely is it that we inhale a molecule breathed by Carl Sagan?; and What costs more: the Silverdome or the number of peanuts needed to build a life-size replica of the Silverdome? [more inside]
posted by sarahnade on Feb 17, 2010 - 26 comments

NYT Guesstimation Quiz. Enrico Fermi estimated the yield of the Trinity A-bomb test by dropping some shredded paper. He also asked his students to estimate unusual quantities like the number of piano tuners in Chicago - to show that just about anything can be estimated without detailed knowledge.
posted by Electric Dragon on Apr 1, 2009 - 54 comments

Rethinking Public Opinion - the immense importance of public opinion polling in American politics, and the under-reported problems at the heart of the enterprise, combine to call for a serious critique of the polling industry, its assumptions, and its method
posted by Gyan on Nov 8, 2008 - 40 comments

The Eyeballing Game
posted by Skorgu on Oct 14, 2008 - 81 comments

A View from the Back of the Envelope - approximations and the fun behind them.
posted by Gyan on Oct 18, 2005 - 25 comments

Tired of quizzes where you get no credit if your answer is just slightly off? Then you'll like the Estimation Quiz.
posted by DevilsAdvocate on Aug 27, 2004 - 13 comments