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Re: Beating the Odds?
Posted:
Jan 31, 2013 7:13 PM
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Dr J R Stockton wrote:
>
> In sci.math message <74eig895m269n2jmtcnin5u3i2m455vn5o@4ax.com>, Wed,
> 30 Jan 2013 09:14:00, David C. Ullrich <ullrich@math.okstate.edu>
> posted:
>
> >On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:29:09 -0800, William Elliot <marsh@panix.com>
> >wrote:
> >
> >>There is a fair coin with a different integer on each side that you can't
> >>see and you have no clue how these integers were selected. The coin is
> >>flipped and you get to see what comes up. You must guess if that was the
> >>larger of the two numbers or not. Can you do so with probability > 1/2?
> >
> >Of course not. Seeing one side gives you no information about
> >what's on the other side.
>
> But if you see zero, you know that it cannot be larger (assuming
> unsigned numbers) than the number on the other side.
William Elliot did write 'integer', which is surely an essential part of
the problem.
--
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by
this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
Jonathan Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting
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