Here is a scenario which occurred many millenia ago: The patriarch of a wealthy family was on his deathbed and wanted to divide his gold among his eight sons who were all very very greedy. Wishing to favor the oldest son (as tradition would have it) but also to reward the more cunning of his progeny, he made the following decree:
The oldest son is to propose a plan for dividing up the gold. The sons are all to vote on this plan, and if it receives at least half of the votes (four or more) then that will be the way the gold is divided. If this plan does not receive half of the votes, the oldest son gets nothing, the next oldest proposes a plan, and there is another vote, now among the remaining seven. Again at least half of the vote (still four or more) is required, and failure removes this son from the process. This is to continue until some son’s plan receives at least half of the votes of the remaining heirs.
Assuming that these sons will do anything to get the most gold possible for themselves, how much (if any) will the oldest son be able to inherit?
Clue: backwards induction would be really useful here.
http://blog.joshuawwy.com/
Categories: Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 31, 2010 at 1:35 am
A man walks into a bar and after a few drinks has the following conversation with the bartender:
Man: Try to guess the ages of my three daughters.
Bartender: Well, I won’t guess but if you give me clues, I’ll try to figure it out.
Man: Ok. The sum of their ages is eighteen.
Bartender: That’s not enough. I need more information.
Man: Well, the age of one of them is the address above the door outside.
Bartender: (after returning from looking at the door) That helps, but I still don’t know all of their ages.
Man: Alright then, my youngest girl’s favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry.
At this point the bartender promptly told the man the ages of all three of his daughters. What were they?
http://blog.joshuawwy.com/
Categories: Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 28, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Categories: Art, Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 28, 2010 at 5:32 am
Categories: Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 26, 2010 at 12:46 pm
The SMU Chamber Choir was formed by five enthusiastic students in 2007.
Today, we have grown from five into one bigger family, formed bonds with several overseas choirs and continued making music together.
Why sing alone?
http://blog.joshuawwy.com/
Categories: Art, Life, School.
By ragnar
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July 26, 2010 at 12:03 pm
http://funnytranslator.com/ translates a text through Google Translate 56 times (each time from English to a different language and back to English).
The results show that machine translation still has a long way to go.
http://blog.joshuawwy.com/
Categories: Books, Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 20, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I am a democrat [proponent of democracy] because I believe in the Fall of Man.
I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that every one deserved a share in the government.
The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true. . . . I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I don’t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost. Much less a nation. . . .
The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.
http://blog.joshuawwy.com/
Categories: Life.
By ragnar
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July 20, 2010 at 11:56 am
Categories: Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 18, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Categories: Diversions.
By ragnar
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July 17, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I believe that such racially discriminatory policies have an adverse impact on national cohesion. But then again, people should have the right to decide what to do with their money. What gives?
http://blog.joshuawwy.com/
Categories: Life, School.
By ragnar
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July 16, 2010 at 11:33 am
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