The Monty Hall problem is a puzzle in probability that is loosely
based on the American game show Let's Make a Deal. The name comes from
the show's host Monty Hall. In this puzzle a player is shown three
closed doors; behind one is a car, and behind each of the other two is
a goat. The player is allowed to open one door, and will win whatever
is behind the door. However, after the player selects a door but
before opening it, the game host opens another door revealing a goat.
The host then offers the player an option to switch to the other
closed door. Does switching improve the player's chance of winning the
car? The answer is yes — switching results in a 2/3 chance of winning
the car. The problem is also called the Monty Hall paradox, in the
sense that the solution is counterintuitive, although the problem is
not a logical self-contradiction.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1926:
Fox Film Corporation bought the patents of the Movietone sound system
for recording sound onto film.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Film_Corporation)
1952:
Farouk of Egypt abdicated after a coup d'état.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_of_Egypt)
1962:
Telstar relayed the first live transatlantic television signal.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar)
1967:
The 12th Street Riot began in the predominantly African American inner
city area of Detroit, Michigan.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Street_Riot)
1983:
Air Canada flight 143, the "Gimli Glider", crash-landed in Gimli,
Manitoba without loss of life.
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Wikiquote of the day:
"The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and
speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense
but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man
would not be a private detective." -- Raymond Chandler
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler)