Monty Hall
Aug. 17th, 2011 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
[Poll #1770413]
Explanation
I have known what the answer was for ages, but for some reason it only "clicked" in my head today. You can blame
sarahs_muse for triggering it.
Explanation
I have known what the answer was for ages, but for some reason it only "clicked" in my head today. You can blame
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:21 pm (UTC)I confess I got it wrong when I first encountered it but I had had four or five pints.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:21 pm (UTC)It's very irritating to explain to people in pubs, much easier with pen and paper :-p
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:46 pm (UTC)1. [instant thought] It wouldn't be a 'problem' if the instantly obvious answer (doesn't matter) were true.
2. [immediately following thought] My brain rephrased it as a 1 in 2 (50% chance) once you have 2 doors left and know one of them is a goat and one is a car
I failed yesterday to satisfactorily explain to Steven the 'correct' (66%) ratio, so I'd be interested in this "million doors" explanation.....? Link?
I must ask my sister this one ans see what she says - she is numerically ultra-sharp and a statistician (insurance risk analyst) by trade (well at least til she went management...)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 04:43 pm (UTC)For how I internalised it, see my response to
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 05:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:57 pm (UTC)I "believe" that switching is beneficial because of a combination of peer pressure, having found some argument that seems compelling that suggests it, and having sat down for an hour with a deck of cards and run Monty Hall simulations and counted the results.
But it has never "clicked" for me, which makes it a very unstable belief.
Then again, I have a lot of beliefs like that.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:59 pm (UTC)But really internalizing that is hard.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 04:42 pm (UTC)What I discovered was that either I had chosen the prize with my initial guess, or I had not. Opening doors that I hadn't chosen did not change the correctness of my initial guess. And therefore, there was always a one in three chance that my original guess was correct.
Therefore, as there was only one other door to choose, that door must have a two in three chance of being correct.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 04:13 pm (UTC)Although, it still feels uncomfortable, and anyways, its a travesty against goats...
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 04:54 pm (UTC)I also wonder if people don't get it because the choice seems to be between "car" or "goat" and there's an inherent 50/50 feel to that. If the three doors hide a car, a goat and a sheep, then (unless you're of a particular wool-loving persuasion) there are now three different outcomes rather than just cars and goats.
Some explanations assume you pick door 1 with either a goat or a car behind it. In my head that also adds another level of complexity because, if you don't spot the symmetry in the problem then the next question is: "But what if I start with door 2?"
By differentiating between sheep and goat, you can also do away with the door numbers in explaining it and keep it simple:
It then comes down to:
If you picked the goat first, the host reveals the sheep. If you switch you WIN.
If you picked the sheep first, the host reveals the goat. If you switch you WIN.
If you picked the car first, the host reveals one of the animals. If you switch you LOSE.
You don't know which one you picked but you will always be in one of the three scenarios above. In two thirds of the scenarios switching wins you the car, in the other one it doesn't, ergo switching is good 2/3 of the time. Job done.
Maybe it's just me but that seems simple and straightforward in my head. Simpler than trying to explain why "If you picked a goat then the host reveals the other goat" has to be counted twice for the two combinations of goats.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 05:55 pm (UTC)You run Jurassic Park 3.0. Your lead scientist tells you he has just bred two new Velociraptor babies. You fire him immediately for breeding Velociraptors, but now you have a problem: Those are billion-dollar killing machines, so you can't afford to just write them off if it's possible you can keep them.
If the new babies are female, you can safely put them in your tank and they can't breed, because you only keep female Velociraptors. If they're male, you'll have to eat the loss and sell them to the Roast Dino Hut franchise, or something.
You ask the newly-promoted Head Scientist if the babies are female. "Yes," she says, "I've checked the first one, and it's female!".
What are the odds that, when she checks, the second one will also be female?
(assume each baby has a 50/50 chance of being female)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 06:02 pm (UTC)There are four possible worlds I am living in:
MM
MF
FM
FF
Because she has proven that I do not live in either of the first two worlds, I am left with two possible worlds, one with a male second raptor, one with a female. And thus a 50% chance that I am sharing it with two female raptors.
Do I win a goat to feed to my raptors?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:53 am (UTC)Somehow, you end up being one of the first contestants on this new game show. The host, who you have learned is called Monty Hall, presents you three doors, tells you there's a prize behind one, and nothing behind the other two, and asks you to pick a door. You pick a door, expecting him to open it. But instead, he opens another door, and asks you if you want to change your mind. You did not expect this. You know no more than what you have been told.
Unanswerable questions:
a) Does he always do this?
b) Does he know where the prize is?
c) Is he on your side or not?
Calculating the probabilities requires an answer to these questions.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 10:24 pm (UTC)(a) The man likes to save his show's budget.
(b) He does this sort of thing for a living.
(c) He is probably better at mind games than you.
(d) I should stick with my first choice, because that way I guarantee my one-third chance of being right.
Exception: if you were an utterly cute thirteen year old, swap if he suggests it. Because if he's nasty to you, his sponsors will be cross with him.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-19 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-20 07:50 am (UTC)You had a 1 in 3 chance when you picked the original door. Opening doors on the other side doesn't change that chance.
If we could take you, once the other door has been opened, knock you out, remove all of your memories, and then ask you to choose again with no bias, _then_ you'd have a 50:50 chance of getting it right. But as you already know things, this isn't the case.