“It is still an unending source of surprise for me to see how a few scribbles on a blackboard … could change the course of human affairs.”

Stanisław Ulam

Markov Chains/Monte Carlo methods are nearly magical mathematical systems. They’re based on tremendously simple math even middle schoolers can do – but have influenced everything from major computing features like spell checkers and search engines to world changing things like the analysis of viral spread and nuclear bomb development.