In Commemoration of Finals Week: Are You Done with Finals?

…I’m going to calculate the probability that one of my readers from Berkeley has also finished their finals.

Problem statement: Consider n final time slots. k of the time slots have passed. What is the probability that a student in Berkeley has finished all his/her finals given that he/she has f finals?

Assumptions: There are about an equivalent amount of people taking finals in each time slot. There is no systematic “bias” in what final time slot one any student has.

Disclaimer: I’m actually really bad at probability, so correct me for errors in this computation.

Solution: Continue reading →

On Companionship: A Message to Me and You

A few days after I moved into the dorms, during that fateful first week at Berkeley, I listened to the first message I ever received from Pastor Ed. It was the New Student Welcome Night that everyone was raving about, and I wanted to start my college years off on the right moral and religious foot, given that the event was planned by the largest religious group on campus.

Little did I know his message would contain the most toxic piece of advice I have ever received in college. Continue reading →