4 ms·
Some clarification: Each prisoner finds the room in the same state as each other. After opening the boxes they are subsequently closed again before the next p
by RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
Some clarification:
Each prisoner finds the room in the same state as each other. After opening the boxes they are subsequently closed again before the next prisoner. I believe this was intended to be inferred from:
... they will not know anything about the
previous prisoners' experiences ahead of time.
Hint - the probability of success is greater than 10%.
There is a modification of the "obvious" solution that even works if the warden knows the prisoners' strategy beforehand and behaves in a maximally pessimal (from the prisoners' point of view) manner.
- o_nate 16y agoI can see that the prisoners can do better than 1/2^100, but I don't see how they could get anywhere close to 10% success - so I must be missing something big here.
- srgseg 16y agoI've looked up this puzzle elsewhere and it is described as allowing the prisoners to manipulate the contents of the boxes they open to a limited degree.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoThere is a way of doing this that does not require doing so. The places you have looked up might have described a weaker version of the puzzle.
- srgseg 16y agoThanks for the clarification. Could you post a link to the solution? Or post it as a ROT-13 comment? Otherwise I might never find out the answer!
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoemail me - address is in my profile. In return, consider this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1891084 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1891084