Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.How to Estimate Pi at the BarHere’s a method for estimating Pi that basically requires a dartboard, faith in the relative frequency interpretation of probability, and…Nov 1, 2017Nov 1, 2017
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.Using Eigenvectors to Find Steady State Population FlowsEach year, some fraction of Seattle’s population moves to Portland. And some fraction of Portland’s population moves back to Seattle. If…Oct 4, 20174Oct 4, 20174
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.Advice for New Economics Teaching Assistants (First Year Ph.D. Students)One of the scariest moments of grad school for me was getting up in front of a classroom to teach for the first time.Apr 19, 2017Apr 19, 2017
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.Why We’ll Never Run Out of Oil — But Will Stop Using it AnywayLet’s do a thought experiment. Say the world’s proven oil reserves are 400 million barrels. And say world oil consumption is 20 million…Mar 22, 20171Mar 22, 20171
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.A Sewing-Circle Method for Estimating PiWith another “Pi Day” behind us, I thought I’d share a fun method for estimating pi that basically requires a hardwood floor, a bag of…Mar 22, 2017Mar 22, 2017
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.A More Elegant View of R SquaredOne of the first things students learn in statistics is the correlation coefficient “r” , or its data science equivalent “R-squared” …Mar 21, 20173Mar 21, 20173
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.America’s Job Churning MachineFrom the top-line figures from the monthly jobs report, one might get the impression that job growth in the U.S. economy is a steady…Dec 10, 2016Dec 10, 2016
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.How to Derive Trigonometric Functions Without GeometryMost people first meet sine and cosine in a basic geometry class. The lesson starts with a right triangle, and derives sine and cosine…Dec 10, 20161Dec 10, 20161
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.The Linear Algebra View of the Fibonacci SequenceThe Fibonacci sequence is a beautiful mathematical concept, making surprise appearances in everything from seashell patterns to the…Dec 10, 20164Dec 10, 20164
Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.An Easy Derivation of the Volume of Spheres FormulaWorking 2,000 years before the development of calculus, the Greek mathematician Archimedes worked out a simple formula for the volume of a…Dec 10, 20166Dec 10, 20166