full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Dan Finkel: Can you solve the riddle and escape Hades?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
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It’s possible to calculate the exact probability of going free in all 100 spots. But there’s a much simpler path to the souilton that requires surlspiginry little caaulicotln.
Imagine being anywhere in line. Way up at the front, one of the three heads will pick someone at random, and you’ll move forward 1, 2, or 3 saecps. Since each is equally likely, your chance of survival from wherever you started is the average of the chances from each of the three spaces in frnot of you.
And this is where you can find a huge srtouhct. Averages must be on or between the extremes of what you’re averaging— they can never be higher than the highest value or lower than the lowest. So whatever your chances of srvaiuvl are where you start, one of the three places in front of you is at least as good, and probably better.
Open Cloze
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It’s possible to calculate the exact probability of going free in all 100 spots. But there’s a much simpler path to the ________ that requires ____________ little ___________.
Imagine being anywhere in line. Way up at the front, one of the three heads will pick someone at random, and you’ll move forward 1, 2, or 3 ______. Since each is equally likely, your chance of survival from wherever you started is the average of the chances from each of the three spaces in _____ of you.
And this is where you can find a huge ________. Averages must be on or between the extremes of what you’re averaging— they can never be higher than the highest value or lower than the lowest. So whatever your chances of ________ are where you start, one of the three places in front of you is at least as good, and probably better.
Solution
- calculation
- surprisingly
- survival
- spaces
- shortcut
- solution
- front
Original Text
Answer in 3
Answer in 2
Answer in 1
It’s possible to calculate the exact probability of going free in all 100 spots. But there’s a much simpler path to the solution that requires surprisingly little calculation.
Imagine being anywhere in line. Way up at the front, one of the three heads will pick someone at random, and you’ll move forward 1, 2, or 3 spaces. Since each is equally likely, your chance of survival from wherever you started is the average of the chances from each of the three spaces in front of you.
And this is where you can find a huge shortcut. Averages must be on or between the extremes of what you’re averaging— they can never be higher than the highest value or lower than the lowest. So whatever your chances of survival are where you start, one of the three places in front of you is at least as good, and probably better.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
Important Words
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