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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Lecture by Dr. Wesley Calvert at PSBB, Ngm


On 29th August, select students of classes XI and XII of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, Nungambakkam, were given the opportunity to listen to Dr. Wesley Calvert, mathematician and professor at Carbondale University, South Illinois, who was invited to deliver a speech on the applications of Bayes’ theorem in artificial intelligence. 

His opening lines immediately reflected his enthusiasm for mathematics, and we hung onto his every word as he introduced the concept of Bayes’ theorem through a witty example. Learning the concept by means of its daily-life usage, in some ways, helped us understand the gravity of its significance and opened our eyes to a dimension of the concept beyond just the mathematical formula.  Dr. Calvert also pointed out that probability proves to be more useful than we imagined; it can predict the choices of customers, and even helps entertainers create the illusion of magic and prophecy.

Artificial intelligence requires a less cumbersome alternative- the Monte Carlo Algorithm, as Dr. Calvert introduced to us by an example and a diagram, can be utilized in computers for easily acquiring results in terms of conditional probability. His words left us inspired even after he concluded his lecture.


S.S.Anjanaa Devi
 Class XII
Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
Nungambakkam

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