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Puzzle puzzle every where

Past few weeks have been puzzle/problem solving weeks, which includes 4 google treasure hunt problems. (Robot in a Maze, Puzzle 2 (getting lines from specific files in zip archive), Network routing table and last one:Prime numbers ). Solving these was fun.
puzzle
Two days back my friend shared this (Galton’s Paradox) on Google reader (My Google reader shared Items). Try explaining it :) not that difficult though.

In search of a new car, the player picks door 1. The game host then opens door 3 to reveal a goat and offers to let the player pick door 2 instead of door 1.

But what drew my attention again? Yesterday I was watching 21 movie, Its based on real story of six MIT students cashed in millions in Vegas Casinos by counting cards. Here comes the puzzle, In a classroom scene Prof Micky asks one of the student (Jim, our hero)

Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, “Do you want to pick door No. 2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

I’m sure you will be left puzzled for a moment, when you hear the solution by Jim, at least I was. Its a tricky one, But you can get through it ;) . So what choice would you have made, I’ll update the post with answer after few days.

Update:

This is famous puzzle known as Monty Hall Problem. Wikipedia has very good explanation for this.

Because there is no way for the player to know which of the two unopened doors is the winning door, most people assume that each door has an equal probability and conclude that switching does not matter. In fact, in the usual interpretation of the problem the player should switch—doing so doubles the probability of winning the car, from 1/3 to 2/3.

Also Read: Classic Computer Science Puzzles

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June 7, 2008 | Filed Under puzzle 
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Comments

3 Responses to “Puzzle puzzle every where”

  1. Ashok on June 9th, 2008 5:04 am

    When you picked door No. 1, the chances of a car behind was 1/3. Now there are 50-50 chances between door No.1 & 2. I think there is no added advantage in switching your choice.

  2. V on June 16th, 2008 11:01 pm

    Some are amazing. Some are astonishing. Still stuck in a few. Whats the reason we all get amazed by these puzzles? Everyone gets addicted somehow.

  3. ???????? on August 24th, 2008 3:13 am

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