Posts by Graham Kendall
Is the sporting world putting money before fairness?
June 18, 2016
As the 2016 World Snooker Championship gets underway, the 32 entrants will compete for the most sought-after prize in the game. But not all of them will have gone through the same struggle to be there. The top 16 players, defined by the highest money earners over the past two years, get automatic qualification to …
Why the dartboard looks like it does, and how bad players can do better
June 10, 2016
“There are many variants of the game of darts, but by far the most common sees players start with a score of 501 and take turns to reduce this score using three darts at a time until one of the players reaches zero exactly. The layout of a darts board is a circle cut into …
How to beat the casino – legally
June 5, 2016
“If there’s one thing everybody knows about gambling it’s that the house always wins. And while it is true that casinos always make a profit, there are a number of ways to cheat the system – some of which are actually perfectly legal. Half a century ago, mathematician Edward Thorp published a groundbreaking book outlining …
How to unleash the wisdom of crowds
May 8, 2016
“The great Victorian polymath, Sir Francis Galton was at a country fair in 1906, so the story goes, and came across a competition where you had to guess the weight of an ox. Once the competition was over Galton, an explorer, meteorologist, scientist and statistician, took the 787 guesses and calculated the average, which came …
Nottingham Research Leaders Program: Sometimes good things just happen
April 21, 2016
As part of the Nottingham Research Leaders Program (NRLP), we paid a visit to the Ministry of Education (MoE). This was a follow up to the MoE recently visiting the University of Nottingham, UK and meeting with the Vice Chancellor. Professor Sir David Greenaway explained NRLP, which led to the NRLP delegation being invited to …
The future of scientific publishing: let’s make sure it’s fair as well as transparent
March 22, 2016
“Scientific publishing has undergone a revolution in recent years – largely due to the internet. And it shows no sign of letting up as a growing number of countries attempt to ensure that research papers are made freely available. Publishers are struggling to adapt their business models to the new challenges. But it is not …
Asia Research News 2016: Ready to read!
March 8, 2016
The Asia Research News 2016 has just been published online. Pages 15 and 24 (use the actual page numbers, not the navigation page numbers) feature research carried out at UNMC. Page 15 looks at Compassion Mediation Enhances Quality-of-life Perceptions and page 24 is about Graphene Based Nano-lubricants. We will receive hard copies soon. Please let …
AlphaGo: Computers and Game Playing: A Very Timely Lecture
March 7, 2016
Today (14:00, 07 Mar 2016 in F1A09 at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus) I am giving a two hour lecture on Computers and Game Playing. This lecture could not have come at a better time. At the end of January, Google’s DeepMind reported that AlphaGo had beaten the top European Go player (Fan Hui) …
The Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition
March 6, 2016
The Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition celebrates the power of photography to communicate interesting biological phenomena to a wide audience. The 2016 competition is now open for entries and the overall winner will receive a £500 prize. Submit your image before 1 June for a chance to win. More information is available from here. Featured …
Wisdom of the Crowds at the Graduate School Christmas Party
December 19, 2015
In 1906 Francis Galton was at a country fair and there was a guess the ox competition. He took all 787 guesses and took the average. This was 1,197 pounds. The actual weight? 1.198 pounds! In effect the wisdom of the crowds gave a perfect answer. This was the start of The Wisdom of the …
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