Great Moments in Science

January 23rd, 2008 Chris Posted in Uncategorized |

Or in this case, mathematics. The question is simple: If you walk up to a bus stop and there is no bus waiting for you, is it quicker to start walking, or to wait for the next bus to come along? After modeling the system, it turns out that in most cases, waiting is the best strategy. The edge cases which break down are when the buses are very widely spaced or when the distance to be traveled is very short.

Link: Walk versus Wait: The Lazy Mathematician Wins