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You don't need math skills to solve this, only problem solving skills. There are only so many ways to systematically choose 50 boxes from 100 when the only info
by photon_off 16y ago
You don't need math skills to solve this, only problem solving skills. There are only so many ways to systematically choose 50 boxes from 100 when the only information is a name on the inside and a number on the outside.
- srgseg 16y agoI'm just trying to help people that might spend an hour looking for a simple kind of solution to this, when the answer is really quite complicated and the math involved in the linked solutions are way beyond the understanding of most non-mathematicians.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoI've explained it to many non-mathematicians, and they certainly seemed to have understood.
- srgseg 16y agoEven the first solution linked to doesn't explain it. It only declares the result that the probabilities work out in a particular way. The second link contains the math, and no way would a non-mathematician have been able to come up with that math.
- o_nate 16y agoHere's another link that explains it pretty well without using any fancy math: http://www.mast.queensu.ca/~peter/inprocess/prisoners.pdf http://www.mast.queensu.ca/~peter/inprocess/prisoners.pdf edit: I agree that this does involve some math, but I like that it all can be derived from basic principles of probability.
- srgseg 16y agoThat explanation is not consistent with the claim You don't need math skills to solve this, only problem solving skills. I'm just saying, it'd be nice if there is a warning when something that looks like a standard lateral thinking brain teaser is actually the topic of a paper submitted by a pair of professors of mathematics to the 2003 Conference on "Compexity".