The Monty Hall Problem
Three doors, one car. The host opens a losing door and offers you the swap. Does it make any difference whether you take it?
1975 (posed), 1990 (made famous)9 min read
Nature
Veridical paradox
Quine's term. The result seems absurd but is demonstrably correct. Closely related to counterintuitive results, used where a formal demonstration exists.
The absurd-sounding conclusion is simply true.
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Simpson's Paradox
A treatment does better for men, and better for women, and worse for people. None of the arithmetic is wrong.
1903 (Yule), 1951 (Simpson), 1972 (named)20 min read
The Friendship Paradox
Your friends have more friends than you do. So do mine. This is true for almost everybody, all at the same time.
199117 min read
Gabriel's Horn
A shape you can fill with a finite bucket of paint but whose inside you could never finish painting. How?
16417 min read
Bertrand's Box Paradox
You reach into one of three boxes and pull out a gold coin. The chance the other coin in that box is gold is not one half.
188910 min read
Galileo's Paradox
There are exactly as many square numbers as there are numbers, even though almost every number is not a square.
163813 min read