If you've flipped heads 10 times what's the next flip most likely to be? Bayes' theorem has the answer, not just for the coin, but for the pursuit of science generally.
Trying to make a prediction about the world based on dodgy data? Then data assimilation has the answer!
This collection of articles looks at mathematics relevant to law and justice.
England's performance in the World Cup last summer was thankfully overshadowed by the attention given to Paul the octopus, who was reported as making an unbroken series of correct predictions of match winners. David Spiegelhalter looks at Paul's performance in an attempt to answer the question that (briefly) gripped the world: was Paul psychic?
"It's a match!" cries the CSI. At first glance it might seem that if the police have matched a suspect's DNA to evidence from the crime scene, then the case is closed. But some statistical thinking is required to understand exactly what a match is, and importantly, how juries should assess this as part of the evidence in a trial.
