Perso Diaconis, the Mary V. Sunseri Professor of Statistics and Mathematics at Stanford University, will take a careful look at some of our most primitive images of random phenomena: flipping a coin, spinning a roulette wheel and shuffling cards. For each, there is a well-developed mathematical theory, BUT comparison with the real thing shows that we are lazy and that, often, the usual laws of probability break down. This has implications for both the casino and for routine mathematical modeling (big models and big data).

Diaconis will give a second lecture in the Departments of Statistics and Probability and Mathematics at 3:00 pm, Friday, August 30, in C405 Wells Hall. The title of that talk is "Mathematics and Statistics for Large Networks."

Diaconis is a brilliant and innovative scientist-mathematician-probabilist-statistician and a very entertaining speaker. Diaconis has contributed much to probability, statistics and mathematics. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards including a MacArthur Fellowship, 1982 - 1987, and election to the National Academy of Sciences, 1995.

The John Kinney Memorial Endowment Fund was established by Larry and Lois Dimmitt to support lectures in the memory of John Kinney. Professor Kinney was a member of the Departments of Statistics and Probability and Mathematics at MSU, 1965 - 1983.

Location:	1400 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building [map]
Price:	free
Sponsor:	Department of Statistics and Probability
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