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80- dont insult my intelligence, i got you the first time! So nu whats the answer? Stop stalling for time by making matters confusing and put that brain of yours to work and try to figure it out!
first answer my query and i will posthaste answer yours
you are overtaking the person in 2nd place what else could it mean?
p.s. one of my posts that you commented on is not in so maybe stick it in…
there are a variety of points included in the less than zero magnitude implied by the term “overtaking”. one of these points is the culmination of the overtaking which is the point that the overtaking was completed, at which point the person originally refererd to as being in 2nd place would have been formally “overtaken” in other words “overtaking” can be considered to be inclusive of the first and last terminal points.
now if you are willing to answer my question, we may proceed to the distastefully simple task of answering your most elementary riddle.
you overtook the person in 2nd place does that help?
no it doesnt help
so ill answer it both ways
most likely you are referring to before the overtaking which would mean you are now in 2nd place.
if you are referring to the less usual syntactical construction then you would be in 1st place.
final answer based on the most likely statistical assumption:
2nd place
it should be noted that Agent answered this about 40 minutes ago but that post was only now put up (sorry)
correct! I don’t really understand your logic on how the answer could be 1st place (thats the answer that many ppl answer) now you are running in another race and you overtake the person in last place, what position are you in now?
if you are overtaking the person in last place either you entered the race in the middle illegally or you exist in a dual quantum state.
otherwise you cant overtake the person in last place because if you were behind him YOU would be in last place
Can I take a shot at this?
I don’t really understand your logic on how the answer could be 1st place
if being overtaken is considered the very last moment of the process of overtaking then your question would imply that the person “in 2nd place” was in 2nd place after you had overtaken him and then you would ergo be in 1st place
most ppl say that the postion is 2nd to the last….but it seems like we have some brilliant ppl here:)
I saw two boys at Maariv last night, they walked in with their father and they looked exactly alike.
They told me that even though they share the same parents and date of birth they are not twins.
How is that possible?
(I’m supposed to give them the answer tonight, please help.)
Mod 80 if you overtook second place you’re now in it. That is the only correct answer.
triplets
“(I’m supposed to give them the answer tonight, please help.)”
doc, does that mean you were stumped?
arc there is some ambiguity in how the question was phrased.
see my previous posts
often the answer to a riddle is dafka in an unusual interpretation of the question
thats why you cant necessarily answer based on the typical meaning of a phrase
especially when the answer based on the simple interpretation is obvious
I don’t normally frequent this thread but I think you’re guilty of thinking too deep here. especially the way it was phrased, it was kind of “george washington’s white horse”.
guilty as charged
as i said:
often the answer to a riddle is dafka in an unusual interpretation of the question
thats why you cant necessarily answer based on the typical meaning of a phrase
especially when the answer based on the simple interpretation is obvious
“especially when the answer based on the simple interpretation is obvious”
Well not so obvious bec. most ppl answer 1st place which is wrong
Dr. Pepper-
There are many possible answers. The most obvious one is triplets, as given by Mod 80. But they could also be quads or quints, etc.
Other answers include the possibility that both are test tube babies who were implanted into different surrogates. This would mean they both have the same parents, but since they did not share a womb they are not twins. The coinciding birth dates is a quaint coincidence.
Alternatively, they could both be clones. Their shared “parents” would be the donor cells they were generated from.
Or, you could be looking at individuals from parallel universes. One or both may have made the transition through a different dimension (though obviously not the 5th, or I would have noticed) to our world. Same parentage and birth dates are obvious in this case, but they couldn’t be called twins.
As I said, there are a myraid of possibilities.
i meant obvious to prodigies
(though obviously not the 5th, or I would have noticed)
people write LOL all the time but dont mean it literally. i never have used the phrase before and i mean it literally
LOL
Thanks Squeak,
I think I’m going to have to print this up.
(Too much to remember.)
squeak–
Thank you for your usual forbearance to my reflexive cheppeh / siliness.
blinky–
-Perhaps the first-place runner was lapping the second-place runner on a circular track, and therefore remains in first place.
-Maybe the 101th-place runner, who had been lapped multiple times passed the second-place runner with a brief bust of energy.
ICOT-
I’m definitely wasn’t asking so that you would stop. I hadn’t noticed that you used quotes for everyone.
As far as choice #5 goes, I can’t reconcile that as your serious answer with respect to Emerson.
I like your out-of-the-box thinking for blinky’s riddle. The answer I would have given is that the second place runner is a suspect in a criminal investigation fleeing on foot. You are the law chasing him or her down. When you overtake the runner, you become in the position to place the person under arrest. But blinky specifically excluded me from answering the riddle.
Squeak and ICOT- I GIVE UP!!!!!
FOR THE WIN!
.
(000000000000000000000000)
(00000000000000000000000000)
000000 00000000000000 000000
00000 000000000000 00000
0000(o) 0000000000(o) 0000
00000 000000000000 00000??????????????????
000000 00000000000000 000000 ? I ?
0000000000000000000000000000 ? Surrender! ?
0000000000000000000000000000 ? ?
0000000000000000000000000000 ??????????????
0000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/
V V V V V V Vsqueak-
“I can’t reconcile that as your serious answer with respect to Emerson.“
Believe it or not, the quote crossed my mind when I posted that response.
If the shoe fits, I’ll wear it ?
(Wasn’t the Hobgoblin a Marvel character? I though you were a DC guy, Mr. Mxyzptlk.)
(The original expression was “If the hat fits, wear it”, referring to a dunce cap – just a bit of trivia.)
Nice ghost!
I don’t know who you’re referring as “Mr. Miksilpliks”. I have nothing to do with the hat I’ve been given, I was just playing along.
dont play innocent, Mr. 5th dimension
Kltpzyxm!
LAer, you’re about a day or so too late on that one. I tried it yesterday, and we discovered that the limitation has been lifted, which is in line with the authors’ reboot.
Batter Up!
You and a colleague are having a bet on the upcoming National League Championship playoff series.
Since you both think the Phillies will win the series, you bet as follows:
If the Phillies win in four or five games, you win a soda.
If the Phillies win in six or seven games, your colleague wins.
Are the odds even?
If not, who has a better chance of winning?
How do you calculate the odds?
Bonus: can you calculate the odds with an equation?
ICOT- this is my comprehension of the answers without looking at the riddle itself! Now thats a talent, Ok here goes…
1) “Are the odds even?”- As far as im concerned odd #’s are odd and even #’s are even, no riddle can interchange that! So the answer is NO!
2) “If not, who has a better chance of winning?”- odds are odds and even is even so thats fifty fifty, so its equal!
3)”How do you calculate the odds?” easy, start from one and skip every other one, for example 1,3,5,7….
4)”Bonus: can you calculate the odds with an equation?”- hmmmmm, well its extra credit so i guess its fine if i skip this one.
“can you calculate the odds”
yes 1+2=a+2=b+2=c+2=d etc.
blinky–
Good answers.
Reading them, the thought that occurred to me was “hoisted by my own petard”.
baron fritz–
I’m afraid I don’t understand your answer.
I can only try-
Do you want a hint or do you want the answer?
Dr. Pepper-
I was able to solve the first three questions thru two similar brute-force methods.
Each box represents a game (best-of-seven), each marble represents a Philly win (four wins).
Each box must be empty or contain one marble.
We need to figure out all possible combinations of empty boxes and boxes with a marble in them.
The first method is to start with the seven boxes lined up from left to right, and the four marbles in the leftmost boxes.
Each turn will move the rightmost marble one box to its right.
XXXX---
XXX-X--
XXX--X-
XXX---X
XX-XX--
XX-X-X-
XX-X--X
XX--XX-
XX--X-X
XX---XX
X-XXX--.
The second method is to count using binary numbers with seven on-off switches like so:
X
X-
XX
----X--
----X-X
----XX-
----XXX
---X---
---X--X
---X-X-
---X-XX
---XX--
---XX-X
---XXX-
---XXXXWe will be able to count to 127 using this method.
At this point, the results of the first and second methods will be the same.
It will now be quite clear if one bettor or the other has better odds.
[if either] actually has better odds, just in case anyone else wants to work it out.)
a) Is there a more elegant way of solving this?
b) Is there an equation that will do so?
To wit:
XXXX---has the exact same likelihood of occurring as all of the following possibilities, combined:
XXX-X--
XXX--X-
XXX---X
XXX----“hoisted by my own petard”.- ICOT can you explain in simple english?
Here is another one- A plane is flying and crashes and every single person on the plane dies, and there are survivors- How can this be?????
I can only try-
I would use the binomial distribution to solve this.
To win in 4 games the Phillies need to win 4 games in a row, with a .50 chance of winning each game the probability of winning 4 in a row is .5^4 = .0625. (You can also use the binomial distribution but that is overkill for this case.)
To win in 5 games the Phillies need to win exactly three out of the first four games and game number five. The probability is (4 nCr 3) * (.5^3) * (.5^1) * .5 = 4 * .5^5 = .125.
To win in 6 games the Phillies need to win exactly three out of the first five games and game number six. The probability is (5 nCr 3) * (.5^3) * (.5^2) * .5 = 10 * .5^6 = .15625.
To win in 7 games the Phillies need to win exactly three out of the first six games and game number seven. The probability is (6 nCr 3) * (.5^3) * (.5^3) * .5 = 20 * .5^7 = .15625 (as above).
P(Winning in 4 or 5 games) = .0625 + .125 = .1875 = 18.75%
P(Winning in 6 or 7 games) = .15625 + .15625 = .3125 = 31.25%
So there is a much better chance that they will win in 6 or 7 games.
Please take note that 18.75% + 31.25% = 50% since each team has an equal chance of winning.
Using Excel, copy this table to a spreadsheet, the “3” should be in Cell A1:
3 =BINOMDIST(3,A1,0.5,FALSE) =B1*0.5
4 =BINOMDIST(3,A2,0.5,FALSE) =B2*0.5
5 =BINOMDIST(3,A3,0.5,FALSE) =B3*0.5
6 =BINOMDIST(3,A4,0.5,FALSE) =B4*0.5If you’re not familiar with the binomial distribution please let me know.
(Can I suggest what type of soda to get.)
The people on the plane died. The people in the plane survived.
Squeak- nope thats not it! Wait give me a second to breath…. I stumped you???!
every single person on the plane dies
the married people survived
Only the single people perished, the couples survived?
every single person on the plane dies, and there are survivors
the animals in the baggage area survived (they were survivors)
I avoided the obvious (married people) answer intentionally.
you didnt stump squeak
that might not be the answer you wanted but it is a perfectly correct answer
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