The mathematics of randomness

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From the gambling machines in a Casino to the predictions of next week’s weather, the world that surrounds us is governed by seemingly random events.

How do mathematicians make sense of this and what does it even mean to “predict” something inherently random? We will explore these questions and see what are the main guiding principles of our modern understanding of randomness. Along the way, we will see how the works of an 18th century Egyptologist and a 19th century biologist allow today’s banks to model the stock market.