Mathematical Digest

Short Summaries of Articles about Mathematics
in the Popular Press

"Long waits willalways try patients," by Philip Ball. Nature Science Update,5 April 2001.

It seems that every visit to a doctor involves a good deal of waiting.One could make the inference that if there were more doctors, or a differentsystem, there'd be less waiting. This article reports on a study by DominicSmethurst and H. C. Williams which suggests that patients' waiting timesobey a power law. Thus, long waiting times may be inherent in any medicalsystem. Ball points out that the study is based on waiting times for onlyfour doctors (over a six-year period), so we may have to wait to get thefull story.

--- Mike Breen