The author starts off his book using the example of flash crash and an e-bay bidding algo wreaking havoc. He cites these examples as an indication of the extent to which multiple algos dedicated to ONE single task, i.e.bots, are being used in various domains. Obviously the start of algos and heightened excitement for it came from Wall Street. But the author tries to give a journalistic account of all the various places where bots are being used.

Via Forbes Alvin Roth sees plenty of ways economics can make a difference in people’s lives. In contrast with the authors of bestselling books like Freakonomics, who are fascinated by obscure but intriguing questions like how to detect cheating by sumo wrestlers, Roth relishes real-world challenges. “Some say economics has all kinds of good tools and techniques, but it has an absence of interesting problems,” notes Roth, 58, who holds a joint appointment in the Harvard economics department and the business school.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC7cW5fU1IU?rel=0]

“In mathematics, you don’t understand things. You just get used to them." -- Johann von Neumann

Laplace Transformation is a useful tool in problem solving. From the probabilistic theory perspective, Moment generating function is nothing but a linear combination of two Laplace transforms. In fact moment generating function has a more direct relationship with Laplace-Stieltjes transform. Most of the calculations involving MGF and convolutions become easy with the use of Laplace Transform. I think one of the most powerful ways to use Laplace transforms is solving Partial Differential equations.