Random walks in the park

When this year’s Perimeter Scholars International students were tasked with finding interesting physics in Waterloo Park, three students opted to cast a wider net.

Rather than exploring some of the phenomena in the park next door to Perimeter Institute — the light dancing on the lake, the wind moving through the trees — Katie Latimer, Mohamed Hibat Allah, and Matija Medvidović decided to put “random walk” models to a literal test.

As they explain in the video, random walk models aren’t just useful for working out how to get back to their apartments. They apply in a wide number of scenarios, from finance to biology.