So I've been reading a lot of math books lately. Not textbooks, but paperback books about mathematicians that are part history, part gossip, and part lay-person's illustrations of the math they were doing.
Yesterday, on the bus to work, I came across this brainteaser that apparantly caused quite a fuss about fifteen years again among popular mathematicians.
It goes like this:
So you're on Let's Make a Deal. In the grand tradition of the game, you're asked to choose one of three doors. Behind one of the doors is a car; behind each of the other two, a goat (let's assume for the purpose of this entry that you'd rather have a car than a goat--even though that probably isn't the case for some of you).
So you pick a door. Of course, Monty Hall knows where the car is, so he says "I'm going to help you out here," and he opens one of the two doors you [IMG]didn't[/IMG] pick. There's a goat behind it. Then he tells you that if you want, he'll let you switch from your original guess to the other door that's still shut.
So, that's the question: do you switch? Do you stay? Does it matter?
Yesterday, on the bus to work, I came across this brainteaser that apparantly caused quite a fuss about fifteen years again among popular mathematicians.
It goes like this:
So you're on Let's Make a Deal. In the grand tradition of the game, you're asked to choose one of three doors. Behind one of the doors is a car; behind each of the other two, a goat (let's assume for the purpose of this entry that you'd rather have a car than a goat--even though that probably isn't the case for some of you).
So you pick a door. Of course, Monty Hall knows where the car is, so he says "I'm going to help you out here," and he opens one of the two doors you [IMG]didn't[/IMG] pick. There's a goat behind it. Then he tells you that if you want, he'll let you switch from your original guess to the other door that's still shut.
So, that's the question: do you switch? Do you stay? Does it matter?
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
cat:
I miss you. 
sliggy:
I would switch, in most cases, that is the hint from Monty or the host in general that you didn't pick the right answer. Regis used to hint all the time on Who Wants to be a Millionaire if the contestant chose the wrong answer. 