Conversations that matter…

Yesterday was my regular “Lizzy & Daddy Day” – where we make sure that Liz and I do something for just the two of us.  This time we had decided that we would be going fishing together.

We got up early, got everything ready, and headed out.  Once we had been driving for about a minute, Lizzy decided that it was time for the sort of conversation that she could only have with just me in the car.

“Dad, I know this isn’t related to anything we are doing, but…

If ‘i’ is the square root of negative one, what is the square root of ‘i’?”

A lengthy discussion followed that both of us enjoyed. (for the curious – the correct mathematical answer to the question is that the square root of ‘i’ is the square root of ‘i’.  If you need a more detailed explanation – I suggest that you go fishing with me).

Later, when I told Werona about this conversation, she said “Only Lizzy would ask you that!”.  To which I had to explain that only early in the day I had contemplated, on a whim, “If the odds of something happening are 1 in 100, what are the odds of it not actually happening if you try it 100 times?”.  Some short math later showed that the odds of a “1 in 100” event not actually occurring after 100 attempts was 1 in 2.73.

Ah.  Maths….

Cheers,
Ben