In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments to study the average path length between two randomly chosen people in a social network. The results of the experiment showed that the average path length between two people in the United States was only six steps, which is much shorter than what would be expected if the network were randomly connected.
There are many instances where applied mathematics is used to assist criminal investigators. From identifying suspects to analyzing evidence. For a long time I've been interested in the accuracy and reliability of these systems. After all an incorrect result (Type 1 and Type 2 errors) could ruin an innocent person's life or allow a criminal to go free. There are many recorded instances where mathematics has been applied successfully, but there is also a growing body of evidence that math has been misused or flat out abused in criminal proceedings. I've always had an interest in how technology is applied to the legal system and specifically how it can be tested for efficacy, reliability, accuracy, and precision.
