Book of Odds – Back in 1982, we used to live in Washington D.C. Naturally, I was a kid at the time, but I still remember the tragedy of the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 that year. A couple of months later, my parents took me and my sister on a cruise, at the end of which we had to take a flight back to D.C. As we were waiting at the gate, I noticed an Air Florida plane approaching. At this point I realized we were about to board a plane which is exactly the same as the one that had crashed. When I confronted my parents, they adopted the probability approach to reassure me and my sister. “The odds of this plane crashing today are slim to none,” my father said. Seen as I am alive and well today, I guess he was right… It’s funny how the worst tragedies and best things that could happen to you boil down to simple numbers.

Speaking of odds and probabilities, the Book of Odds is a brilliant site that “contains hundreds of thousands of Odds Statements, from the odds of being the only one to survive a plane crash, to the odds of having a heart attack, to the odds of having ever eaten cold pizza for breakfast. Book of Odds not only allows you to search for the odds and chances that concern or interest you the most, but also to understand probability by comparing the odds of unfamiliar events to others you have personally experienced.” Delve into the fascinating world of chances, odds and probabilities while skipping the boring math lectures.