Resource Library

A song for teaching about the multiplication rule.  Using the popular topic among young adults of relationships, the multiplication principle is memorably illustrated by having Paul Simon's #1 hit song (which states only a half-dozen ways to leave your lover, not 50) revisited to show 50 literal paths for ending a relationship: (5 reasons for the decision) X (5 methods to relay the decision) X  (2 options for handling acquired stuff). The lyrics were written by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso to the tune of the same-titled 1975 song by Paul Simon.  Vocals in the audio recording are by Abeni Merryweather produced by Nico Acedo from UTEP's commercial music program.  The song tied for second place in the 2023 A-mu-sing contest.

A joke for discussing the calculus prerequisite for an upper division probability course.  The joke was written by Dennis Pearl and Larry Lesser in October 2022.

"WON OVeR" is a poem by Lawrence Mark Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso. The poem was written in 2022 and originally published in the January 2023 Journal of Humanistic Mathematics.  The poem highlights the unexpected occurrence of the constant 1/e in two classic probability problems:  “secretary problem”/”marriage problem” and “hats derangement problem”.  The poem could be used either to motivate students to learn about those particular problems or to cap things off after working through them.  

A climate change related poem describing the numerous record temperature values being set (expressing that as unusual under a model of no overall warming but the norm in reality).  The poem was written by author with pen name Anubis the Philosomancer in July 2013 and posted on the poetry website hello poetry.com

This limerick was written April 2021 by Larry Lesser of The University of Texas at El Paso to be used as a vehicle for discussing probabilities and expected values involved in playing a typical pari-mutuel lottery.  The limerick was also published in the June 2021 issue of AmStat News.

This limerick was written in April 2021 by Larry Lesser of The University of Texas at El Paso to be used as a vehicle for discussing Simpson's Paradox.  The limerick was also published in the June 2021 Amstat News.

Song celebrates Bayesian inference, includes verbal form of Bayes theorem. The lyrics were written by David Blackwell, University of California at Berkeley. May be sung to the tune of "Who (Stole My Heart Away)?" (Jerome Kern).  The audio was produced by Nicolas Acedo with vocals by Abeni Merriweather, both students in the Commercial Music Program at The University of Texas at El Paso.

A song about the Problem of Points, whose discussion in the 17th century led to the foundations of probability theory and expected value.  The lyric was written in 2017 by Lawrence M Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso and may be sung to the tune of the Sting #1 1983 Grammy-winning hit “Every Breath You Take”.  The audio recording was produced by Nicolas Acedo with vocals by Alejandra Nunez Vargas, both students in the Commercial Music Program at The University of Texas at El Paso.

A song describing how sample means will follow the normal curve regardless of how skewed the population histogram is, provided n is very large.  The lyrics were written by Dennis Pearl and Peter Sprangers, both then at The Ohio State University.  The audio recording was produced by The University of Texas at El Paso student Nicolas Acedo who also performed the vocals