Wow, I didn't expect everyone out there to be mathletes, but damn, this was pitiful. For those of you who entered the contest, I'm giving you a second chance. If you haven't entered yet, finish reading this, then go here to enter.
The reason I'm giving you a second chance is because nearly everyone completely botched the third question:
How many complete sets will I get?
What card will I get the most of (checklist here)?
How many of that card will I get?
Who will win the Men's Wimbledon tournament this year (draw here)?
Who will win the Women's Wimbledon tournament this year (draw here)?
Maybe it's my fault for leaving you with a math problem, or maybe it's your fault for not recognizing it, but either way, please try again. Leave a comment on this post with your new answer to question 3. Or leave it the same and take your chances. By the way...
...here's a gigantic hint:
The minimum number that the answer could possibly be is 24. That means only 5 of you were even in the realm of possibility. However, pretty much no one is in the realm of probability.
How did I conclude 24, you say? Well, given N complete sets, the number of leftover singles is given by
Lc = 1195 - N * 50
Now, for the card that occurs most often to be at a minimum, we need to calculate the smallest possible number of incomplete (49/50) sets possible. Therefore, the minimum number of incomplete sets is given by
ISmin = floor ( Lc / 49 )
with any remainder being leftover cards. Then, we can add together the number of complete sets and the minimum number of incomplete sets. If the (Lc/49) has a remainder, we add 1, because the most-occurring card must be in that remainder. So
If rem ( Lc / 49 ) = 0
MOmin = Lc + ISmin
Else
MOmin = Lc + ISmin + 1
Run this algorithm on all possible numbers of sets from 0 to 23, and the answer is either 24 or 25. For N= 0 to 19 sets, it's 25. For N= 20 to 23 sets, it's 24.
I told you this would be a gigantic hint. Here's more hint:
I ran a simulation of 1196 cards 100,000 times and checked to see how often the most-occurring card showed up in each. Here are some results:
The mean value was 35.5. Assuming a normal distribution, 99.7% of the time, the value would be between 28 and 43. The highest answer received so far was 28.
9 comments:
For Q3, I will change to 34, in hopes that their collation is not completely random.
14 sets
Marion Bartoli
37
Djokovic
Sharapova
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Dude, what? I was too busy playing football, hanging out with cheerleaders.
Um ....
I change my number to 42. As you might of gathered, that's a total guess.
Gah, dang it nightowl, beat me by 2 minutes.
Fine. 54 then. That's a good, proper answer for the universe.
14 complete sets
Vera Zvonareva
36
Novak Djokovic
Victoria Azarenka
I change my number to 32...so there.
I'll change mine to 39.
Man, I took two semesters of statistics in college. I got B's, but I seem to have left the knowledge behind.
I'll change my number to 42, since that is the number that proves I am not a robot this time.
Post a Comment