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Get Those Brain Cells Working: The Monty Hall Problem

posted by janrinok on Friday July 29 2016, @10:27AM   
from the something-to-think-about dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

Do any of you have any noteworthy experiences where knowledge of math helped you in an unusual way?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

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Original Submission

• The problem tells us more about psychology (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @03:50PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @03:50PM (#381572)

  The phrasing of this problem is itself the problem.

  By preloading the terms of the problem with an inaccurate model that does not reflect what is going on, it's not surprising that you're forcing an error on the part of your audience.

  Or, to put it another way, it's like saying you're a great hacker because you can do some social engineering. Misleading, at best.

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