Mihai Nica's cSplash page
cSplash 2014 - The Fibonacci Numbers: Counting with Algebra
The Fibonacci numbers are a famous sequence of numbers where each number is given by the sum of the previous two numbers in the sequence. Because of this recursive definition, it is not clear how to calculate the 1000th Fibonacci number without first calculating the first 999. In this talk, we will use algebra to tackle this problem and learn more about the Fibonacci numbers. We will also explain a neat trick that lets one convert miles to kilometers using only the Fibonacci numbers.
cSplash 2013 - Surprising Probabilities
Playing with randomness can lead to many situations that seem counter intuitive. One thing that is often surprising is how probabilities change when you are given some extra information. In this talk we will develop the tools we need to handle this and we will look at some examples where the results are surprising. The Monty Hall Problem is a famous example of the type of problem we will look at.
cSplash 2012 - Counting with Algebra
This was the first incarnation of the Fibonacci Numbers talk. There is an updated version of these notes for cSplash 2014 that is meant to be a bit more accesible, but almost exactly the same.