Timeline for Help understanding the solution to a "shooting puzzle"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 9, 2016 at 15:46 | answer | added | Swiss Frank | timeline score: 1 | |
| Feb 15, 2016 at 13:27 | answer | added | Falco | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jan 22, 2016 at 13:04 | answer | added | Mauro | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 21:01 | answer | added | Spacemonkey | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 5, 2014 at 23:27 | comment | added | user88 | BTW, this puzzle already appears on the site, albeit in a slightly different form: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/295/the-mexican-standoff | |
| Aug 28, 2014 at 19:33 | vote | accept | makaed | ||
| Aug 28, 2014 at 19:33 | answer | added | makaed | timeline score: 3 | |
| Aug 28, 2014 at 18:43 | history | edited | makaed | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited body
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| Aug 28, 2014 at 18:37 | comment | added | makaed | @EnvisionAndDevelop Updated it. | |
| Aug 28, 2014 at 18:37 | history | edited | makaed | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 80 characters in body
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| Aug 26, 2014 at 12:55 | comment | added | TheRubberDuck | Others raise an interesting point: the question seems to indicate (but isn't totally clear) that each person gets exactly one shot, but the answer assumes they repeat in the same order until one is left standing. I assume this is the second, but could you clarify this in the question? | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 12:51 | comment | added | TheRubberDuck | @KenY-N I think you have to make certain assumptions for the sake of the puzzle. For example, I don't expect that emotion is involved (make them robots if necessary); I'm sure the others are trying to maximize the probability of their own survival. | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 11:54 | answer | added | Julia Hayward | timeline score: 3 | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 4:17 | comment | added | Ken Y-N | If Smith fires first at Brown, the chance of surviving is incalculable. if he kills Brown (50% chance), then Jones gets him with 100%, if he misses Brown, then Brown misses, who does Jones shoot? Jones could just fire into the air if he were so inclined. Does he stop to flip a coin? For Brown, he would try to shoot Jones, assuming he knows Jones is 100% accurate. But shooting and missing Jones might encourage Jones to target him, so should he try to miss Smith and hope Jones... Too much human influences, even with perfect probability calculation. | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 0:30 | answer | added | Ross Millikan | timeline score: 4 | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 21:08 | comment | added | Joel Rondeau | Just googled it and the calculations appear to be for a random draw of who shoots first: math.cornell.edu/~mec/Summer2009/Leung/puzzles_p3.htm | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 20:12 | comment | added | TheRubberDuck | There are definitely problems with the proposed answer. First and foremost, it doesn't explain why this strategy is the best, it just calculates a probability of one strategy. Secondly, the wording is confusing, if not incorrect. For example, the author says "Smith survives with a probability of 1/5.", but then goes on to say "the probability to survive for Smith is 3/5 * 1/2 = 3/10." | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 18:46 | review | First posts | |||
| Sep 18, 2014 at 17:17 | |||||
| Aug 25, 2014 at 18:44 | history | asked | makaed | CC BY-SA 3.0 |