Will a random walk help you find your way back home?

It is midnight in New York. A drunkard sets off from home, and goes for a walk. In their inebriation, at each crossroads they randomly choose a direction with equal probability. North with probability ¼. East with probability ¼. South with probability ¼. West with probability ¼. Will they find their way home?

This is an example of what is called a random walk. A random walk is a process by which your location is determined from a sequence of random steps.

This week at the HLFF Blog, Sophie Maclean explores randomness and whether random walks in two, three, or even four dimensions are fated to eventually return to their starting location.

Check out the full article here: HLFF BLog

Image caption: A “random walk” with equal probability to move in any one direction.


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