KTH/SU Mathematics Colloquium

2005-03-16

Persi Diaconis, Stanford University

A Mathematician Flips a Coin

Ordinary flips of a coin are a model example of random phenomena. In joint work with Susan Holmes and Richard Montgomery, it is proved that coin tossing is biased to come up the way it started. The analysis involves integrating over SO(3), Tauberian Theorems and an excursion into image analysis of high-speed, slow motion movies.