List by Author: John Haigh

Making Two Tribes fairer

In the TV game show Two Tribes teams can have unequal sizes. Is that fair?
Pointless: The maths of TV gameshows

One thing that makes TV game shows fun to watch is that there's usually an element of luck involved. But how (un)lucky is (un)lucky? We look at the probabilities of two popular examples.
The logic of drug testing

London 2012 vowed to be the cleanest Olympics ever, with more than 6,000 tests on athletes for performance enhancing drugs. But when an athlete does fail a drug test can we really conclude that they are cheating? John Haigh does the maths.
An almighty coincidence
sun behind a cloud
Life is full of coincidences, but how do you work out if something is really as unlikely as it seems? In this article Rob Eastaway and John Haigh find chance in church and work out the odds.
Running a lottery, for beginners
There are many different types of lottery around the world, but they all share a common aim: to make money. John Haigh explains why lotteries are the way they are.
The UK National Lottery - a guide for beginners
In the early days of the UK National Lottery, it was quite common to see newspaper articles that looked back on what numbers had recently been drawn, and attempted to identify certain numbers as "due" or "hot". Few such articles appear now, and John Haigh thinks that perhaps the publicity surrounding the lottery has enhanced the nation's numeracy.
Blast it like Beckham?
What tactics should a soccer player use when taking a penalty kick? And what can the goalkeeper do to foil his plans? John Haigh uses Game Theory to find the answers, and looks at his World Cup predictions from last issue.
On the ball
If your team scores first in a football match, how likely is it to win? And when is it worth committing a professional foul? John Haigh shows us how to use probability to answer these and other questions, and explains the implications for the rules of the game.
  • Maths in a minute

    Want facts and want them fast? Our Maths in a minute series explores key mathematical concepts in just a few words.

  • Climate change: How can maths help?

    As COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, kicks off we look at how maths can help understand the climate crisis.

  • The travelling salesman
    map

    How do you create dramatic film out of mathematics? We find out with writer and director Timothy Lanzone.

  • Disease modelling for beginners

    Mathematics plays a central role in understanding how infectious diseases spread. This collection of articles looks at some basic concepts in epidemiology to help you understand this fascinating and important field, and set you up for further study.

  • Maths in a minute: Conditional probability

    Find out why the formula we use to work out conditional probabilities is true!

  • A disappearing number
    scene from play
    We talk about a play that explores the fascinating mathematical collaboration between the mathematicians GH Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan.