Chance

Chance
By Amir D. Aczel, Random House, 160 pages, $22.95

FOR EVERY decision we make in life, there is an element of chance involved. How much chance depends on the nature of choice being made – there’s more uncertainty in a game of blackjack than there is in choosing what colour shirt to wear in the morning – but there exists in all decisions a possibility that the wrong choice will be made.

Some people use “common sense”, or their “better judgement” to make the right decision, but for those with neither of these qualities, there’s probability theorem. That’s what Amir D. Aczel’s latest book, Chance, is all about.

Aczel has earned a reputation as the layman’s mathematician by writing simple explanations for complex mathematical theorems. Chance is particularly good at simplifying the more baffling elements of probability and giving it a practical application.

A good example is the section on how to succeed in love, find the best apartment or adopt the best puppy. Here, Aczel theorises that if there are 100 potential life partners, apartments or puppies out there, the highest probability of choosing the best one lies in checking out 37 and then selecting the next best one that comes along.

Of course, that’s assuming you can’t ever go back to one you’ve already tried. Throw in that little realworld element, and you’ll have to wait for Aczel’s Chaos Theorem to be released.

Ultimately, Chance doesn’t really tell readers anything they shouldn’t have already figured out for themselves. But if you prefer to let a combination of algebraic fractions make your decisions for you, then this is definitely worth a look.

– Pte John Wellfare