3 ms·
Look at it another way: If you flip a coin 76 times, you generate a permutation, but 2^76 is such a large number that your permutation is likely unique. You c
by bhousel 13y ago
Look at it another way: If you flip a coin 76 times, you generate a permutation, but 2^76 is such a large number that your permutation is likely unique. You can take any 76-coin sequence and say that it's mathematically likely that nobody in history has ever flipped it.
Cards work similarly. Every properly shuffled deck of cards is likely a unique permutation that has never before been seen across the entire history of people shuffling cards.
- mistercow 13y agoRegarding cards, I've often wondered, if you factor in the birthday paradox, whether it is likely that any shuffled deck of cards has come out the same as a previous shuffled deck. I have not wondered hard enough about this to actually do the math, however.
- wisty 13y agoIt's still quite unlikely. You could look at the reasoning behind ZFS and git using SHA-256 hashes to de-dupe data. With 256 bits in the sample space, you it takes an unimaginable amount of effort to find any collisions (unless the hash has a weakness).