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to ask if you can answer a question re probability (Maths question)

999 replies

Fainne · 24/01/2020 00:23

So, say I have 20 cards in a pack.

I pick one. It's the Ace of Diamonds let's say for argument's sake.

I then pick another one out of the same pack of 20 cards the following day.

Am I correct in saying that the odds of me picking the same card is a multiple of the single odds?

So 1/20 x 1/20 = 1/400

?

Because I've someone telling me the odds are still 1/20 that I'll pull the same card.

OP posts:
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8
mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 14:02

Horse racing and tennis are sports.
I want to win Olympic door opening.

user1471517900 · 26/01/2020 14:03

You might win Olympic trolling tbf

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 14:08

If you read the thread you will see people are changing the wording of what I am saying.
While their examples are true, that does not by default make mine wrong.
They are different questions.

iseetodaywithanewsprintfray · 26/01/2020 14:28

@PestyMachtubernahme

I am Schrödinger's newsprintfray.

@mummmy2017:

Will your work not be surprised at you debating maths because you are famously bad at it?

OffToTheMoon · 26/01/2020 14:32
  • Question on a test paper. Odds of winning a game show ten times in a row.... Answer. 1/1024*

True, if game show is a coin toss, as coin toss is 50/50.

False, if game show involves opening one of 2 doors where the odds of winning are different for each door.

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 14:33

Question .
When offered a swap do you have to take it?
Answer.
NO this is a free world.

But the odds are better on the swap.
Answer
But you said I could choose.
Oh look I won the door did have a car.

beefthief · 26/01/2020 14:57

This has been a masterful windup, congrats for stringing it out so long.

iseetodaywithanewsprintfray · 26/01/2020 15:01

Question.

I am arguing about a probability question on the internet. Everyone who disagrees with me seems to be well educated and are giving well thought out and clear explanations to all of my questions.

No-one agrees with me.

What is the probability that I am right?

StatisticallyChallenged · 26/01/2020 15:04

Think you're on to something there beefthief, nobody could be this obtuse.

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:04

So a probability of only two answer over 10 goes, does not come out with 1/1024 for. The same answer each time.
Wow, are you going to tell Oxford uni?

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:12

Changing the question again.
Once you open a door, then you are no longer being asked which door did you open. The advantage of knowledge is gone.
You are now being asked did you win a car not.?
There are only two answers to this question.
Go on I dare you tell me the third answer to did you get a car or not.!!!!!!!!

OffToTheMoon · 26/01/2020 15:13

Let me try phrasing it this way.
10 coin flips will have the odds of 1/1024 because the chance of either a head or tail is truly random, there is a 50% chance of it being either a head or tail.

With the door example, at the point the contestant is offered a choice of 2 doors, the outcome is not truly random. One door has twice as much chance of having a car behind it. This changes the chances of winning from 50/50 to 33/66, therefore the betting odds at the outset of the competition will be different.

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:15

No the odds won't.
Landlord is only asking do you win or not.
He doesn't care about the door result.
His game is did you get a car or not.
Different question to yours.

OffToTheMoon · 26/01/2020 15:17

Can you really not see that there is a difference between 'did you win a car or not' and 'there's a better chance of winning if you swap'.
It's like the lottery example all over again, if i buy a lottery ticket, i can either win or lose, this does not mean i have a 50% chance of winning the lottery.

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:23

But the better chance bit ends once you open the door.
You then progress to did you win.
The question your asking is if you open a door and then swap and win 10 times what are the odds?
I am asking if you go on a show to win a car, what are your chances of 10 wins?

OffToTheMoon · 26/01/2020 15:24

Or to put it (yet) another way.
2 people playing tennis, one a tennis pro, the other a 5 year old. Do you think the odds are 1\1024 of either one winning 10 games in a row? (Bearing in mind the result is either win/lose)
No, because the chances of one of them winning is not truly random.

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:24

Your answer is right.
My answer is right.

chomalungma · 26/01/2020 15:25

The chances are not 1 in 1024.
You multiply the chance of winning each time by itself 10 times.

That is GCSE maths

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:25

One door is not stronger or older than the other.

iseetodaywithanewsprintfray · 26/01/2020 15:27

"I am asking if you go on a show to win a car, what are your chances of 10 wins?"

You keep changing what you are asking.
But the answer to that particular question, which has already been answered many times, is (2/3)^10. But only if you switch every time. Which you may or may not do, for no discernable reason.

OffToTheMoon · 26/01/2020 15:27

I am asking if you go on a show to win a car, what are your chances of 10 wins?
And the answer is 'it depends on whether you swap or not'.

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:28

2.4.8.16, 32.
64, 128, 256, 512, 1024...?

OffToTheMoon · 26/01/2020 15:28

Typo, sorry.
and the answer depends on whether you swap or not.

StatisticallyChallenged · 26/01/2020 15:28

It would ONLY be 1/1024 if your strategy was to absolutely, at random, choose between the doors whilst ignoring all prior knowledge. You would actually have a better chance of winning more often by doing that...

If you strategy was to always chose your original pick it would be 1/59049
If it was to swap it would be 1024/59049

mummmy2017 · 26/01/2020 15:29

Oh so if you open the door no car you can swap......wow.