Why you struggle to find cheap flights | Barry Burd | TEDxDrewUniversity

Summary

This engaging talk delves into the fascinating realm of the possible and impossible, particularly focusing on the complexities of airline ticket pricing. The speaker illustrates how interdependent pricing and the potential for infinite booking combinations make finding the lowest fare theoretically impossible, a revelation by Carl de Boor in 2003. The paradoxical nature of certain problems, highlighted by Alan Turing's work on undecidable problems, is used to explain this impossibility. The talk concludes with an uplifting message that embracing the unsolvable can free us from the guilt of not always finding the best solution.

Takeaways

• 🎟️ The complexity of airline ticket pricing involves interdependent prices for different legs of a trip, making it challenging to find the best deal.
• 🔄 The concept of 'skip lagging' is a strategy where booking a longer trip with an extra leg can sometimes result in a lower price than a direct flight.
• 📉 Adding an extra leg to a flight can either increase or decrease the overall price, indicating the unpredictable nature of airline pricing algorithms.
• ♾ The possibility of repeating legs and the impact of infinity in ticket pricing leads to an infinite number of booking combinations, complicating the search for the lowest price.
• 🧮 The mathematical impossibility of finding the lowest flight price was proven by Carl de Boor in 2003, highlighting the inherent unsolvable nature of the problem.
• 💻 The script uses the analogy of a frozen computer to illustrate the concept of problems that are theoretically unsolvable due to self-reference, negation, and infinity.
• 🛫 The speaker emphasizes the mundane nature of the problem, starting with the simple act of buying airline tickets but delving into deeper mathematical concepts.
• 🚫 The impossibility of certain problems, as demonstrated by Alan Turing, is presented to show that not all problems have definitive solutions, easing the pressure of finding solutions to every problem.
• 🤔 The script encourages reflection on what is possible and impossible, suggesting that some problems are beyond our capacity to solve, which can be liberating.
• 🌐 The paradoxical nature of self-referential questions is used to demonstrate the limitations of logic and the existence of problems without clear answers.
• 🎉 The speaker concludes by framing the acceptance of unsolvable problems as a form of liberation, allowing for a guilt-free approach to problem-solving.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the talk?

The main topic of the talk is the exploration of possible and impossible scenarios, particularly focusing on problem-solving and the complexities involved in finding the best solution, using the example of airline ticket pricing.

Why does the speaker mention mundane activities like buying airline tickets?

The speaker uses the mundane activity of buying airline tickets to illustrate the complexity and interdependence of pricing, which can lead to seemingly impossible scenarios in finding the best solution.

What is the concept of 'Fair A' and 'Fair B' in the context of the talk?

'Fair A' and 'Fair B' refer to the separate fares for a round trip divided into two segments: from New York City to Los Angeles and from Los Angeles back to New York City. The speaker explains how these fares are interdependent and complicate the pricing structure.

What is 'skip lagging' as mentioned in the script?

Skip lagging is a practice where passengers book a longer trip with an extra leg, such as from New York City to Los Angeles to Atlanta, and then skip the last leg from Los Angeles to Atlanta, potentially saving money on the desired route.

Why does adding an extra leg to a flight sometimes decrease the price?

Adding an extra leg to a flight can sometimes decrease the price due to the complex and interdependent nature of airline pricing algorithms, which may offer lower rates for longer routes to fill more seats.

What does the speaker mean by 'infinity' in the context of booking airline tickets?

The speaker refers to 'infinity' to describe the theoretically infinite number of ways one could book a trip by adding extra legs or repeating legs, making it impossible to find the absolute lowest price for a trip.

What is the significance of the year 1936 in the talk?

The year 1936 is significant because it was when mathematician Alan Turing proved that there are certain well-defined problems with solutions that are impossible for us to solve, introducing the concept of computability and the limits of problem-solving.

What is the paradoxical question presented in the talk, and what does it illustrate?

The paradoxical question is about whether 'yes' or 'no' can be the correct answer to a question that refers to itself. It illustrates the concept of self-reference and how it, combined with negation, can lead to problems that are impossible to solve definitively.

What was Carl de Marin's contribution to the airline pricing problem?

Carl de Marin contributed by identifying the mathematical impossibility of always finding the lowest price for a trip due to the presence of infinity, self-reference, and negation in the airline pricing problem.

How does the speaker relate the concept of impossibility to the audience's life?

The speaker relates the concept of impossibility by suggesting that understanding certain problems are unsolvable can free individuals from guilt or stress, such as not finding the best price for an airline ticket, thus promoting a guilt-free life.