Bayes Rule: How Much is too Much?
P(B|A) = P(A|B)P(B)/P(A) That’s Bayes’ Rule. One of the most important concepts in probability and likely the bane of many Cornell students’ existence, Bayes’ Rule gives the probability of an event B conditional on the occurrence of another event A (i.e., assuming A has already occurred). It’s an unassuming equality on the surface, as the proof of it only requires three […]
Conditional Probability and the Upcoming Election
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/if-trump-wins-heres-how-the-map-might-look/ As Election Day creeps up in the next couple of weeks, it is compelling to look at the statistics and probability of each candidate voting– whether it is by demographic, location, preferences, the data on the election is exciting to follow at this time of year. Amid the almost daily polls of Hillary […]
If They Google You, Do You Win?
Although polls can predict an election results, another big indicator of whom voters will support in this election is Google searches. There is strong correlation between frequency of people searching for a candidate and voting for the candidate. For instance, in the primary elections, Google search volume for a candidate in a state has predicted […]
Game theory to the rescue
http://qz.com/797996/a-combination-of-machine-learning-and-game-theory-is-being-used-to-fight-elephant-poaching-in-uganda/%60 As the discussion in class pointed out, game theory entails making strategic decisions based on the possible decisions of your opponent. As the concept goes, it is being applied to different ranges of problems. The major challenge we are facing at the moment is the degradation of our environment and the threat of endangered […]
Game Theory and the Republican Party
I’m sure many of us have been confused as to why members of the Republican party are just now revoking their support for Trump even though he has a history of racist and sexist speech. Some of us have also been confused for a long time about why Republicans supported Trump’s nomination in the first […]
The Influence of Google
Google’s influence on our modern day culture is unparalleled. It is safe to say that there is nothing that does what Google does as well as Google does it. By that, I mean searching. Someone does not say that they will “Yahoo” or “Bing” something; they say that they will Google it. It is this […]
Information Cascades in the GOP
This article discusses how information cascade plays a role in the current election, particularly with respect to the GOP. For several republican law makers, the endorsements have been switching around pretty frequently. At first, many were unsure about how legitimate Trump was in the running, so an endorsement for him was somewhat rarer. They care […]
Why Facebook uses VCG rather than Google’s GSP
Facebook Doesn’t Make as Much Money as It Could—On Purpose This article explores and compares the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves mechanism that Facebook uses to Google’s Generalized Second Price, as well as reasoning behind the choices. According to Facebook Engineer, John Hegeman, the ideal type of advertisements make it such that users see whichever advertisements that is most […]
How the Internet Aided Ken Bone’s Rise and Fall as an Internet Meme
America’s reaction to Ken Bone – a plump, mustachioed undecided voter dressed in a red sweater who asked a question on energy policy at the 2nd presidential debate – was swift and immediate. Short clips of him addressing the presidential candidates and taking photos afterward were shared millions of times across social media, as his […]
Is Search Engine Optimization a Thing of the Past?
Article: http://searchengineland.com/seo-not-dead-just-shapeshifter-261188 Search engine optimization is the process of using different techniques to boost the amount of traffic to a website by achieving a high rank in the results page of a search engine. There have been several groups and individuals who reported that this process is “dead”. However, the author of this article argues […]
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