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The university's standard offer for most courses is set at A*AA, with A*A*A for sciences courses (or equivalent in other examination systems, e.g. 7,6,6 or 7,7,6 in IB). Due to a high proportion of applicants receiving the highest school grades, an interview process was introduced as a component of consideration for ad...
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Strong applicants who are not successful in being admitted to their chosen college at the university may be placed in the Winter Pool, where they can be considered for admission to other university colleges, which maintains consistency throughout the colleges, some of which receive more applicants than others.
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Undergraduate applications are processed through UCAS, and the deadline for their submission currently is mid-October in the year before beginning. Until the 1980s, candidates for all subjects were required to take special entrance examinations, which have since been replaced by additional tests for some subjects, such...
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Graduate admission is first decided by the faculty or department responsible for the applicant's respective academic subject. An offer of acceptance effectively guarantees admission to a college, though not necessarily the applicant's preferred choice.
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The Winter Pool or inter-College Pool is an important part of the undergraduate application process intended to ensure that the best applicants are offered places. Approximately 20–25% of undergraduate places are awarded through the Pool. Each college can place applicants in the winter pool. These applicants' applicati...
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For each subject, each college will create an ordered list of the pooled applicants they want, and take turns choosing applicants. Colleges with specific student requirements (i.e. the mature colleges and the women-only colleges) are given priority over applicants eligible for their colleges. Some applicants will be fi...
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Once all the colleges have fished as many applicants as they need, the pool ends. Some fished applicants will then be re-interviewed by their fishing college before final admissions decisions are made.
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Colleges can pool any candidate, either because the college has no space but believes the applicant is strong enough to get a place, or because the college wants to compare that applicant to other pooled applicants. Most applicants in the pool are pooled at their original college's discretion, but some candidates meet ...
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There were, as of the 2020/21 admissions cycle, only two grounds for compulsory pooling. For post-qualified applicants, their achieved grades at A level or equivalent (listed below) and, for applicants with overseas interviews, an interview score of at least 8 in all interviews. The second criterion does not apply to m...
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As of 2012, there is only one specifically identified category for pooled applicants, which is S — in special need of reassessment. This is for candidates whose initial interview scores are of questionable accuracy, for example if a candidate received very different scores from different interviewers, experienced techn...
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Pooled applicants who are "fished" by a college may be offered a place immediately or they may be invited for interview. In 2020 just 89 applicants were invited to re-interview, 34 of whom received offers.
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Each year about 3,500 applicants receive offers from their preference college and a further 1,000–1,100 applicants are made an offer by another college through the Pool. On average one in five applicants is pooled and around one in four pooled applicants receives an offer of a place.
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Statistics released by the University show that some colleges regularly receive particularly high numbers of applicants, and these colleges tend to take fewer applicants from the Pool. Other colleges regularly draw a greater proportion of their undergraduate intake from the Pool.
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Public debate in the United Kingdom continues over whether admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge are entirely merit-based and fair, whether enough students from state schools are encouraged to apply to Cambridge, and whether these students are offered sufficient admission. In 2020–21, 71% of all successful appli...
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With the release of admissions figures, a 2013 article in "The Guardian" reported that ethnic minority candidates had lower success rates in individual subjects even when they had the same grades as white applicants. The university was criticised for what was seen as institutional discrimination against ethnic minority...
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There are a number of educational consultancies that offer support with the application process to the University of Cambridge. Some make claims of improving chances for admission, though these claims have never been independently verified. None of these companies are affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Ca...
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The University of Cambridge has been criticised for admitting a lower percentage of Black students, though many apply. Of the 31 colleges at Cambridge, six of them admitted fewer than 10 Black or mixed race students between 2012 and 2016. Similar criticism exists over a relatively lower admission rate for white working...
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In January 2021, Cambridge created foundation courses for disadvantaged students. While the usual entry requirements are A*AA in A-Levels, the one-year foundation course has 50 places for students who achieve BBB. If successful on the course, students receive a recognised CertHE qualification and can progress to degree...
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The academic year is divided into three academic terms, determined by the statutes of the university. Michaelmas term lasts from October to December; the Lent term last from January to March; and the Easter term last from April to June.
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Within these terms, undergraduate teaching takes place within eight-week periods called Full Terms. According to university statutes, it is a requirement during these periods that all students should live within three miles of the Church of St Mary the Great; this is defined as keeping term. Students eligible for gradu...
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These terms are shorter than those of many other British universities. Undergraduates are also expected to prepare heavily in the three holidays (known as the Christmas, Easter, and Long Vacation holiday periods), which is they are referred to by the university as vacations rather than holidays; students vacate the pre...
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The Tripos exam involves a mixture of lectures (organised by the university departments) and supervisions (organised by the colleges). Science subjects involve laboratory sessions organised by the departments. The relative importance of these methods of teaching varies according to the needs of the subject. Supervision...
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A tutor named William Farish developed the concept of grading students' work quantitatively at the University of Cambridge in 1792.
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The University of Cambridge has research departments and teaching faculties in nearly every academic discipline, and ll research and lectures are conducted by university departments. The colleges are charged with giving or arranging most supervisions, student accommodation, and funding most extracurricular activities. ...
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Each graduation is a separate act of the university's governing body, Regent House, and must be voted on as with any other act. A formal meeting of Regent House, known as a congregation, is held for this purpose.
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This is typically the final act during which all university procedures for undergraduate and graduate students and other degrees are finalized. After degrees are approved, candidates must request their respective Colleges to present them during commencement congregation.
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Graduates receiving an undergraduate degree wear the academic dress to which they are entitled prior to graduating; for example, most students becoming Bachelor of Arts graduates wear undergraduate gowns and not BA gowns. Graduates receiving a post-graduate degree (e.g. PhD or Master's) wear the academic dress that the...
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During the congregation, graduands are brought forth by the Praelector of their respective college, who takes them by the right hand and presents them to the vice-chancellor to receive the degree they have earned. The Praelector presents graduands with the following Latin statement (the following forms were used when t...
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The new graduate then rises, bows and leaves the Senate House through the Doctor's door in Senate House Passage, where they receive their degree certificate.
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For the Cambridge Master of Arts, the degree is not awarded by merit of study, but by right following six years and one term after matriculation.
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The university has 116 libraries. Cambridge University Library is the central research library, and holds over eight million volumes. It is a legal deposit library, which entitles it to request a free copy of every book published in the UK and Ireland.
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In addition to the University Library and its dependents, almost every faculty or department has a specialised library; for example, the History Faculty's Seeley Historical Library houses in excess of 100,000 books. Every college also maintains a library, partly for the purpose of undergraduate teaching; older colleges...
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Cambridge University operates eight arts, cultural, and scientific museums, and a botanic garden. Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum; Kettle's Yard is a contemporary art gallery; the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology houses the university's collections of local antiquities along with archaeologic...
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The university's publishing arm, the Cambridge University Press & Assessment, is the oldest printer and publisher in the world and the second largest university press in the world.
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The university established its Local Examination Syndicate in 1858. The syndicate is now known as Cambridge University Press & Assessment having merged with Cambridge University Press (see above) and is Europe's largest assessment agency. Cambridge University Press & Assessment plays a leading role in researching, deve...
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The University of Cambridge issues a considerable number of prestigious awards and prizes annually to accomplished University of Cambridge faculty and students. It also issues some awards to those of varying global academic accomplishment regardless of whether their recipient is affiliated with the University of Cambri...
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The University of Cambridge is routinely ranked among the world's top five universities, and has sometimes been ranked as the world's best. As of 2023, the University of Cambridge is ranked the second-best university in the world behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by QS Rankings. As of 2023, ARWU ra...
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In April 2022, the QS Rankings ranked Cambridge's programmes among the world's best. Cambridge's Arts and Humanities program is ranked second-best in the world. The University of Cambridge's Engineering and Technology program is ranked second-best in the world. Its Life Sciences and Medicine program is ranked fourth be...
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In 2011, "Times Higher Education" recognised the University of Cambridge as one of the world's six super brands on its "World Reputation Rankings" along with Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, and Stanford.
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Cambridge has been highly ranked by most international and UK league tables. It ranked first in the world in the "QS World University Rankings", for instance, from 2010–11 to 2011–12. A 2006 "Newsweek" overall ranking, which combined elements of the THES-QS and ARWU rankings with other factors that purportedly evaluate...
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The University of Cambridge is ranked the best university in the UK by "Times Ranking" and the UK's second-best university by The Complete University Guide. In the 2016 Complete University Guide, the University of Cambridge is ranked first among all UK's universities; this ranking is based on a broad range of criteria,...
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In the 2001 and 2008 government Research Assessment Exercises, the University of Cambridge ranked first in the UK. In 2005, the University of Cambridge produced more PhDs annually than any other British university (over 30% more than second placed Oxford). In 2006, a Thomson Scientific study showed that the University ...
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The University of Cambridge is also closely linked with the development of the high tech business cluster in and around Cambridge, known as Silicon Fen and sometimes referred to as the Cambridge Phenomenon. As of 2004, Silicon Fen was the second largest venture capital market in the world after Silicon Valley. Estimate...
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One privilege of student life at Cambridge is the opportunity to attend formal dinners at a student's respective college, known as Formal Hall and occurring regularly during terms and daily at some of the university's colleges. During Formal Hall, students sit down for a meal in their gowns (at most colleges) while fel...
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After the exam period, May Week is held during which it is customary to celebrate by attending May Balls, which are all-night lavish parties held in the colleges where food and drinks and entertainment are provided. So-called Suicide Sunday, the first day of May Week, is a popular date for garden parties.
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In addition to university-wide representation, students can participate in their own college student unions, which are known as JCR (Junior Combination Room) for undergraduates and MCR (Middle Combination Room) for post-graduates. These serve as a link between college staff and members and include officers elected annu...
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Numerous student-run societies exist at the University of Cambridge in order to encourage students who share common passions or interests to periodically meet or discuss these interests. , there were 751 registered societies at the university. In addition to these, individual colleges often promote their own societies ...
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Although technically independent from the university, Cambridge Union, a globally-renowned debate organization and the oldest debate organization in the world, offers students high-level debate and public speaking experience. Drama societies include the Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC) and the comedy club Footlights, which ...
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Rowing is one of the most popular sports at the University of Cambridge, and there are competitions between colleges, notably the bumps races. The University of Cambridge's rowing competition against Oxford is known as Boat Race. Varsity matches against Oxford also exist in other sports, including cricket, rugby, chess...
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The University of Cambridge Sports Centre opened in August 2013. Phase 1 included a 37x34m Sports Hall, a fitness suite, a strength and conditioning Room, a multi-purpose room and Eton and Rugby Fives courts. Phase 1b included five glass-backed squash courts and a team training room. Future phases include indoor and ou...
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The university also has an athletic track at Wilberforce Road, an indoor cricket school, and Fenner's cricket ground.
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Cambridge's oldest student newspaper is "Varsity". Established in 1947, notable figures to have edited the newspaper include Jeremy Paxman, BBC media editor Amol Rajan, and "Vogue" international editor Suzy Menkes. The student newspaper also has featured the early writings of Zadie Smith (who appeared in "Varsity" lite...
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"Varsity" has a circulation of 9,000 and is the only student publication published weekly. News stories from "Varsity" have appeared in "The Guardian", "The Times", "The Sunday Times", "The Daily Telegraph", "The Independent", and "i".
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Other student publications include "The Cambridge Student", which is funded by Cambridge Students' Union and is published fortnightly, and "The Tab". Founded by two Cambridge students in 2009, "The Tab" is an online media outlet featuring light-hearted features content. "The Mays" is a literary anthology including stud...
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The student radio station, Cam FM, is run jointly by University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University students. One of few student radio stations to have an FM licence (frequency 97.2 MHz), the station hosts a mixture of music, talk, and sports shows.
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All students at the University of Cambridge are represented by Cambridge Students' Union, which was founded in 2020 as a merger of two existing Student Unions in Cambridge: CUSU (the Cambridge University Students' Union) and the GU (the Graduate Union). CUSU previously represented all University students, and the GU so...
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The eight most important positions in the SU are occupied by sabbatical officers. In 2020, the sabbatical officers were elected with a turnout of 20.88% of the whole student body.
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In 2021, Cambridge Students' Union launched a petition opposing the financial collaboration between the university and the government of United Arab Emirates that was worth £400m. The Union cited the "values gap" and threat to "academic freedom and institutional autonomy" reviewed following the release of internal UAE ...
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In recent years, Cambridge has come under increased criticism and legal challenges resulting from alleged sexual harassment. In 2019, for example, former student Danielle Bradford, represented by sexual harassment lawyer Ann Olivarius, sued the university for its handling of her sexual misconduct complaint. "I was told...
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Over the course of a history now exceeding 800 years, a number of University of Cambridge alumni and faculty have emerged as trailblazing thought leaders, innovators, and historical icons in their respective fields. As of 2020, 121 affiliates of the University of Cambridge have won 122 Nobel Prizes (more than any unive...
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Notable alumni in academia include the founders and early professors of Harvard University, including John Harvard himself; Emily Davies, founder of Girton College at Cambridge, the first residential higher education institution for women, and John Haden Badley, founder of the first mixed-sex public school (i.e. not pu...
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In the humanities, Greek studies were inaugurated at the University of Cambridge in the early sixteenth century by Desiderius Erasmus; contributions to the field were made by Richard Bentley and Richard Porson. John Chadwick was associated with Michael Ventris in the decipherment of Linear B. The Latinist A. E. Housman...
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University of Cambridge academics include economists such as John Maynard Keynes, Thomas Malthus, Alfred Marshall, Milton Friedman, Joan Robinson, Piero Sraffa, Ha-Joon Chang, and Amartya Sen. Notable philosophers include Francis Bacon, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Leo Strauss, George Santayana, G. E. M. Ansc...
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Notable alumni in religion include Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and his predecessors; William Tyndale, the biblical translator; Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley, known as the Oxford martyrs from the place of their execution; Benjamin Whichcote and the Cambridge Platonists; Willia...
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Notable University of Cambridge alumni in the field of musical composition include Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Villiers Stanford, William Sterndale Bennett, Orlando Gibbons and, more recently, Alexander Goehr, Thomas Adès, John Rutter, Julian Anderson, Judith Weir, and Maury Yeston. The university has also produced...
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Artists Quentin Blake, Roger Fry, Rose Ferraby, and Julian Trevelyan, sculptors Antony Gormley, Marc Quinn, and Anthony Caro, and photographers Antony Armstrong-Jones, Cecil Beaton, and Mick Rock are each University of Cambridge alumni.
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Writers to have studied at the university include the Elizabethan dramatist Christopher Marlowe, his fellow University Wits, Thomas Nashe, and Robert Greene, arguably the first professional authors in England, and John Fletcher who collaborated with Shakespeare on "The Two Noble Kinsmen", "Henry VIII", and the lost "Ca...
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Ghost story writer M. R. James served as provost of King's College from 1905 to 1918. Novelist Amy Levy was the first Jewish woman to attend the university. Modernist writers to have attended the university include E. M. Forster, Rosamond Lehmann, Vladimir Nabokov, Christopher Isherwood, and Malcolm Lowry. Playwright J...
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Within poetry, University of Cambridge alumni include the poets Edmund Spenser, author of "The Faerie Queene", metaphysical poets John Donne, who wrote "For Whom the Bell Tolls", George Herbert and Andrew Marvell, and John Milton, who is renowned for "Paradise Lost", Restoration poet and playwright John Dryden, pre-rom...
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Actors and directors who attended the University of Cambridge include Ian McKellen, Eleanor Bron, Miriam Margolyes, Derek Jacobi, Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, John Cleese, John Oliver, Freddie Highmore, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, S...
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Isaac Newton, who conducted many of his experiments on the grounds of Trinity College, ranks among the most famed University of Cambridge alumni. Other alumni of the university include Francis Bacon, who developed the scientific method of inquiry, mathematicians John Dee and Brook Taylor, pure mathematicians G. H. Hard...
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In biology, University of Cambridge alumni include Charles Darwin, famous for developing the theory of natural selection and explaining evolution, is an alumnus of Christ's College. Biologists Francis Crick and James Watson developed the model explaining the three-dimensional structure of DNA while working at the Caven...
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Despite the university's delay in admitting women to its full degree programs, women associated with the University of Cambridge have been at the heart of scientific research throughout the 20th century. Notable female scientists include biochemist Marjory Stephenson, plant physiologist Gabrielle Howard, social anthrop...
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The university is widely considered the birthplace of the computer; mathematician and father of the computer Charles Babbage designed the world's first computing system as early as the mid-1800s. Cambridge alumnus Alan Turing devised the basis for modern computing, and Maurice Wilkes later created the first programmabl...
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In physics, Ernest Rutherford, regarded as the father of nuclear physics, spent much of his life at the university, where he worked closely with E. J. Williams and Niels Bohr, a major contributor to the understanding of the atom, J. J. Thomson, discoverer of the electron, James Chadwick, discoverer of the neutron, and ...
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University of Cambridge alumni in astronomy include John Herschel, Arthur Eddington, and Paul Dirac, discoverer of antimatter and one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics; Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and the university's long-serving Lucasian Professor of Mathematics until 2009; and Martin Rees, the current ...
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Other significant university alumni in science include Henry Cavendish, who discovered hydrogen; Frank Whittle, co-inventor of the jet engine; William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), who formulated the original Laws of Thermodynamics; William Fox Talbot, who invented the camera, Alfred North Whitehead, Einstein's major opponent...
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, athletes who are university graduates or attendees had won 194 Olympic medals, including 88 gold medals. Alumni of the university include legendary Chinese six-time world table tennis champion Deng Yaping; sprinter and athletics hero Harold Abrahams; inventors of the modern game of football, H. de Winton and J. C. Th...
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University of Cambridge alumni are responsible some of the world's greatest advances in technology, and several have gone on to found or co-found leading technology companies, including:
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Throughout its history, the University of Cambridge has frequently been featured in literature and artistic works by various authors. As of 2020, IMDb lists 71 films or television shows that feature Cambridge as a filming location.
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Cambridge was mentioned as early as the 14th century in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales". In "The Reeve's Tale", the two main fictional characters are students at a Cambridge college called Soler Halle. It is believed that this refers to King's Hall, which is now part of Trinity College.
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The university has been the setting for all or parts of numerous novels, including Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", Rose Macaulay's "They Were Defeated", and Tom Sharpe's "Porterhouse Blue".
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The Monty Hall problem is a brain teaser, in the form of a probability puzzle, loosely based on the American television game show "Let's Make a Deal" and named after its original host, Monty Hall. The problem was originally posed (and solved) in a letter by Steve Selvin to the "American Statistician" in 1975. It became...
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Vos Savant's response was that the contestant should switch to the other door. Under the standard assumptions, the switching strategy has a probability of winning the car, while the strategy that remains with the initial choice has only a probability.
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When the player first makes their choice, there is a chance that the car is behind one of the doors not chosen. This probability does not change after the host reveals a goat behind one of the unchosen doors. When the host provides information about the 2 unchosen doors (revealing that one of them does not have the car...
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The given probabilities depend on specific assumptions about how the host and contestant choose their doors. A key insight is that, under these standard conditions, there is more information about doors 2 and 3 than was available at the beginning of the game when door 1 was chosen by the player: the host's deliberate a...
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Many readers of vos Savant's column refused to believe switching is beneficial and rejected her explanation. After the problem appeared in "Parade", approximately 10,000 readers, including nearly 1,000 with PhDs, wrote to the magazine, most of them calling vos Savant wrong. Even when given explanations, simulations, an...
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The problem is a paradox of the "veridical" type, because the solution is so counterintuitive it can seem absurd but is nevertheless demonstrably true. The Monty Hall problem is mathematically closely related to the earlier Three Prisoners problem and to the much older Bertrand's box paradox.
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Steve Selvin wrote a letter to the "American Statistician" in 1975, describing a problem based on the game show "Let's Make a Deal", dubbing it the "Monty Hall problem" in a subsequent letter. The problem is mathematically equivalent to the Three Prisoners problem described in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" colu...
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The key to this solution is the behavior of the host. Ambiguities in the "Parade" version do not explicitly define the protocol of the host. However, Marilyn vos Savant's solution printed alongside Whitaker's question implies, and both Selven and vos Savant explicitly define, the role of the host as follows:
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When any of these assumptions is varied, it can change the probability of winning by switching doors as detailed in the section below. It is also typically presumed that the car is initially hidden randomly behind the doors and that, if the player initially picks the car, then the host's choice of which goat-hiding doo...
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The solution presented by vos Savant in "Parade" shows the three possible arrangements of one car and two goats behind three doors and the result of staying or switching after initially picking door 1 in each case:
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A player who stays with the initial choice wins in only one out of three of these equally likely possibilities, while a player who switches wins in two out of three.
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An intuitive explanation is that, if the contestant initially picks a goat (2 of 3 doors), the contestant "will" win the car by switching because the other goat can no longer be picked – the host had to reveal its location –, whereas if the contestant initially picks the car (1 of 3 doors), the contestant "will not" wi...
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Most people come to the conclusion that switching does not matter because there are two unopened doors and one car and that it is a 50/50 choice. This would be true if the host opens a door randomly, but that is not the case; the door opened depends on the player's initial choice, so the assumption of independence does...
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Another way to understand the solution is to consider the two original unchosen doors together. As Cecil Adams puts it, "Monty is saying in effect: you can keep your one door or you can have the other two doors." The chance of finding the car has not been changed by the opening of one of these doors because Monty, know...
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As Keith Devlin says, "By opening his door, Monty is saying to the contestant 'There are two doors you did not choose, and the probability that the prize is behind one of them is . I'll help you by using my knowledge of where the prize is to open one of those two doors to show you that it does not hide the prize. You c...
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Vos Savant suggests that the solution will be more intuitive with 1,000,000 doors rather than 3. In this case, there are 999,999 doors with goats behind them and one door with a prize. After the player picks a door, the host opens 999,998 of the remaining doors. On average, in 999,999 times out of 1,000,000, the remain...
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Vos Savant wrote in her first column on the Monty Hall problem that the player should switch. She received thousands of letters from her readers – the vast majority of which, including many from readers with PhDs, disagreed with her answer. During 1990–1991, three more of her columns in "Parade" were devoted to the par...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6026198
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The discussion was replayed in other venues (e.g., in Cecil Adams' "The Straight Dope" newspaper column) and reported in major newspapers such as "The New York Times".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6026198