Friday Movie Night - Bad Math Edition

 It's Friday Night! Party Time!   Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!

 

Earlier this week I took a first pass look at a flawed probability model behind various types of derivatives.

With that in mind I went looking for information on further mathematical follies which resulted in economic collapse.

Two films goes over Black–Scholes as well as the hedge fund debacle Long Term Capital Management and it's use of mathematical models, bounds and assumptions, which caused it's demise.

The BBC's documentary The Midas Formula is below. The actual film producer has put these on youtube but disabled embedding. Bcause this is the actual film producer, it's probably wise to honor the request. Just click on the image and the videos will open in a new window and start playing.

midas I

The Midas Formula, I

 

midas II

The Midas Formula, II

 

midas III

The Midas Formula, III

 

midas end

The Midas Formula, IV

Nova also had a great film called The Trillion Dollar Bet, which unfortunately isn't made public. Below is an excerpt:

 

Oh the woe one weaves when one assumes where one should not.

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