Math Is Fun Forum
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#1 2013-04-13 01:20:53
Cookies!
In a cookie jar, there are 6 chocolate chip cookies and 8 oatmeal cookies. Hungry Paddy takes out the cookies one at a time and proceeds to eat them. The probability that the 7th cookie that Paddy eats is a chocolate chip cookie is a/b, where a and b are positive coprime integers. What is the value of a+b?
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#2 2013-04-13 01:42:33
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
Hi;
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#3 2013-04-13 01:44:42
Re: Cookies!
Thanks but how to do?
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#4 2013-04-13 01:58:11
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
Hi;
This sort of tells you it doesn't matter what number you pick to eat a chocolate chip cookie.
Actually this is a trick question and no computation at all is required to solve it.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#5 2013-04-14 00:02:03
Re: Cookies!
How did you get into that formula?
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#6 2013-04-14 00:04:51
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
It is really just a joke but I used the box model. It is unnecessary!
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#7 2013-04-14 00:15:21
Re: Cookies!
Why should it be a joke?
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#8 2013-04-14 00:22:50
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
Because it is a trick question and using a computational idea on it just shows how stupid I am.
I ask you this what is the probability that the 15 th card from the top of a standard deck is a 5?
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#9 2013-04-14 00:53:38
Re: Cookies!
So how do you answer that question? I am still clueless
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#10 2013-04-14 00:57:02
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
What is the chance that the top card of the deck is a 5?
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#11 2013-04-14 01:03:48
Re: Cookies!
1/52
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#12 2013-04-14 01:07:45
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
That would be a particular 5 like the 5 of spades. There are 4 fives. Please recompute the answer.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#13 2013-04-14 01:17:06
Re: Cookies!
1/13 ?
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#14 2013-04-14 01:18:00
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
That is correct. Now you see that the 15th card is just the same as the top card.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#16 2013-04-14 01:28:17
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
If someone phrases the question a little bit different, I bring in the heavy machinery. No wonder my back is bad.
Confucius says,"Don't use a cannon to kill a mosquito."
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#17 2013-04-14 02:07:49
Re: Cookies!
The fiftteenth card isn't the same as the first. If any of the previous fourteen were a five, then the fifteenth could not have been a five
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
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#18 2013-04-14 02:10:11
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
You have no information like that. The 15th card has the same amount of information that the first card has. For instance, if I count down to the 15 th card and put it on top has it's probability changed?
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
Offline
#19 2013-04-14 02:11:22
- anonimnystefy
- Real Member
- From: Harlan's World
- Registered: 2011-05-23
- Posts: 16,049
Re: Cookies!
I am intrigued by this problem.
Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.
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#20 2013-04-14 02:14:33
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
Just understand that it is the card problem reworded. It can be verified by the above calculation or by enumeration. The probability is always the same.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
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#21 2013-04-14 02:20:38
- anonimnystefy
- Real Member
- From: Harlan's World
- Registered: 2011-05-23
- Posts: 16,049
Re: Cookies!
Yes, I know. I read the discussion.
Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.
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#22 2013-04-14 02:23:46
- bobbym
- bumpkin
- From: Bumpkinland
- Registered: 2009-04-12
- Posts: 109,606
Re: Cookies!
I just have to convince Agnishom and he can be a toughie.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.
Offline
#23 2013-04-14 02:28:13
Re: Cookies!
The fifteenth card has the same amound of information
Nope. When you have gone down to the fifteenth card you already have the information of the fourteen cards above
Last edited by Agnishom (2013-04-14 02:29:00)
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
Offline
#24 2013-04-14 02:29:18
- anonimnystefy
- Real Member
- From: Harlan's World
- Registered: 2011-05-23
- Posts: 16,049
Re: Cookies!
What information do you have about it? You do not look at the first 14 cards.
Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.
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#25 2013-04-14 02:33:10
Re: Cookies!
There are many different ways in which it can turn out to be a five.
'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
Offline