The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
That is the title of a book that I just read. It only took me a few hours to read it, as it is quite engrossing and somewhat like a children's story. It is somewhat like a children's story, because it is written from the perspective of a 15-year old with Asperger's syndrome, which you can look up on Wikipedia. The author is Mark Haddon, and... I really recommend reading it. A curious mathematical puzzle from it that I want to share with you is called The Monty Hall Problem:
"You are on a game show on television. On this game show the idea is to win a car as a prize. The game show host shows you three doors. He says that there is a car behind one of the doors and there are goats behind the other two doors. He asks you to pick a door. You pick a door but the door is not opened. Then the game show host opens one of the doors you didn't pick to show a goat (because he knows what is behind the doors). Then he says that you have one final chance to change your mind before the doors are opened and you get a car or a goat. So he asks you if you want to change your mind and pick the unopened door instead. What should you do?"
"You are on a game show on television. On this game show the idea is to win a car as a prize. The game show host shows you three doors. He says that there is a car behind one of the doors and there are goats behind the other two doors. He asks you to pick a door. You pick a door but the door is not opened. Then the game show host opens one of the doors you didn't pick to show a goat (because he knows what is behind the doors). Then he says that you have one final chance to change your mind before the doors are opened and you get a car or a goat. So he asks you if you want to change your mind and pick the unopened door instead. What should you do?"
posted by Jeremy | 8:47 am
2 Comments:
This is similar to some of Lewis Carroll's puzzles from his amateur mathematician books. Of course, back in his day people were far more interested in getting their hands on a coloured pebble out of a sack than a car. It is sometimes speculated that had television been invented a century earlier, the most popular show would undoubtedly have been the Lewis Carroll's Win a Pebble Out of a Sack Show.
But there you have it. Cars, with all their ambulatory glitz, have made us forget the simple joy of pulling small rocks out of hessian sacks. "Can't drive a pebble down the shops," they mock, with their self-satisfied ignorance of the incredible fuel efficiency and low emissions only a pebble-based vehicle design provides.
Anyhow, leaving pebbles aside for a moment, you might be interested to know that Autism Pride Day was celebrated just recently.
Sounds like you're having a good time. I've enjoyed your posts.
Hi Luke!
Retrogaming is big in the electronic scene as we know, Commodore 64s and Atari 2600s being drooled over - maybe it's time to take retrogaming that next step? Good to hear your erudite input on the matter as always.
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