Probability calculations can come in handy Arco Images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Zebrafish are exceptionally good synchronised swimmers, forming tight schools that contain hundreds of individuals. Physicists have shown how the fish stay together even as they swim faster to avoid a predator – and they do so by subconsciously performing the kind of weighted averages calculation familiar to high-school mathematics students.
Small fishes tend to swim in schools. Sticking together decreases the risk of any individual fish being killed by predators, and biologists say a school of fish can have more foraging success because many eyes are…
