Infinity Set at Wimbledon?

Today was a historic day for tennis not to be forgotten. American John Isner was victorious over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in a first round Wimbledon match lasting a world record 11 hours and 5 minutes spanned over 3 days. My hats off to these immortal athletes for their cool sportsmanship and their mindblowing endurance - they practically played the equivalent of 4 full tennis matches just among each other without a slam of the racquet or slip to the umpire! Sports broadcasters have dubbed the final set as the "Infinity Set", however how can it be an infinity set when the fifth set actually terminated at 70-68? Although a true infinity set is theoretically possible, I wouldn't doubt that Wimbledon officials reevalute the tiebreaking rules before that becomes a reality.

Corona Commercial

I can get used to watching NBA playoffs for a lifetime with my husband given the advertisments are Super Bowl caliber as they were during the Magic/Celtics game last night. In a commercial for Corona beer, a wiseguy orders his Coronas at the bar and he notices a sign that states, "Happy Hour: 5-8". He rotates the "8" in the sign by 90 degress so it is to appear as the infinity symbol and then rejoins his friends for the now never ending happy hour!

Monty Hall Problem

Yesterday I gave a mini-lecture in our teaching seminar on Bayes' theorem motivated by the "Monty Hall Problem":

Suppose you are on "Let's Make a Deal" gameshow, and you are given the choice of three doors: behind one door is a new car; behind the others are goats. You pick a door, say door #1, and Monty Hall, the host, who know knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say door #3, and reveals a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to stay with door #1, or switch to door #2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

If your initial guess is you have a 50/50 chance on winning the car regardless if you choose door #1 or door #2 knowing there is a goat behind door #3, think again. A simple application of Bayes' theorem will show that the probability of winning the new car by switching from door #1 to door #2 is 2/3. Therefore, it's to your advantage to switch your choice. Discuss.