A Bit of Maths...

There are 30 objective questions in an Economics examination paper.

Let X be the number of questions that I scored correct in the paper.
Therefore X~N(30, 0.25)

0.25 is the probability that I will get a question correct.
0.75 is the probability that I will get a question wrong.

If I magically manage to get every single question correct, the probability for that event occuring will be...
P(X=30) = ³⁰C₃₀ (0.25)³⁰ (0.75)⁰ = 0.00000000000000000086736

Let's say that I know only half of the paper. So, I estimate that I'll get 15 questions correct...
P(X=15) = ³⁰C₁₅ (0.25)¹⁵ (0.75)¹⁵ = 0.000000000012445

Then let's say that the gods frown on me, and I shockingly end up with not even a single question correct...
P(X=0) = ³⁰C₀ (0.25)⁰ (0.75)³⁰ = 0.00017858

Hence, the probability of me having no questions correct is definitely higher than me mysteriously scoring all questions correct by random choosing.

I'm so doomed in my Economics.

Mentioned in The Star!

Oh boy, this came as a sudden shock for me. I was browsing and checking my e-mail when I came upon the daily digest from my local Malaysian BookCrossers group. It appears that our band of 200+ BookCrossers have finally gotten recognition in the local press! The local chapter of BookCrossing was one of the many parts in article about Malaysian book habits that was published in The Star two days ago.

Long timers Emily, Taty, Ariel and Betty were interviewed in the article, and Zarina was caught on camera! Even I was mentioned in one paragraph for founding the group!

Meanwhile scrolling a bit downwards on that article, fellow blogger Sharon Bakar was also interviewed! It's really a fantastic article, and special thanks ought go to the journalist who penned this article. Thank you so much!

Windows Media Player 11 released... but the agony!

Just a while ago, a little Gmail web clip led me to this Wired article, which led me to the site where you can download it from, which is Microsoft.

I'm one of those who use Windows Media Player as his main media player, and I love using it. So imagine the disappointment when I downloaded the installer and upon unpacking, I see this notice:

I closed the window and dumped the installer into the Recycle Bin.

I have no choice but to continue using WMP10. I can't install WMP11 because it needs the damn validation, which is impossible because my copy of Windows is not original here!

Arngh, I hate it when things like this occur.


[Update on Nov. 1 afternoon]: Thanks to Earl-ku for providing the .exe file, but still I'm unable to install WMP11 because I don't have Service Pack 2 on my computer! I give up on it. I'm gonna switch to a Mac if I have a chance to do so.


[Sidetrack]: I noticed that Blogger's image uploading feature has gone pear shaped. I can't upload any images onto Blogger without either getting a timed-out notice or a blank white window.

Why can't you just stick to two simple buttons without resorting to Javascript, Blogger? First button to select, the other to confirm upload!


Technorati tags: Microsoft, WMP, Windows Media Player