3.30 p.m.
Adding Numbers and Shuffling Cards
Persi Diaconis
(A Mathematician and a former Professional Magician), Mary V. Sunseri Professor of Statistics and Mathematics at Stanfo rd University, U.S.A.
19-12-13

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Abstract

When numbers are added in the usual way, ``carries'' occur along the way. It turns out that the carries form a Markov chain with an ``amazing'' transition matrix. This same matrix comes up in character theory, algebraic geometry and in the study of multifractals. It also comes up in the analysis of the usual way we shuffle cards (seven shuffles suffice!).