Just time-passing around at the IPC reading mails after a lot of days and thinking ( well may be ofcourse not ) about a question i saw in one of the mails.
The problem is as follows:
"
A highly superior being from another part of the galaxy presents you with two boxes, one open and one closed. In the open box there is a thousand-dollar bill. In the closed box there is either one million dollars or there is nothing. You are to choose between taking both boxes or taking the closed box only. But there's a catch.
The being claims that he is able to predict what any human being will decide to do. If he predicted you would take only the closed box, then he placed a million dollars in it. But if he predicted you would take both boxes, he left the closed box empty. Furthermore, he has run this experiment with 999 people before, and has been right every time.
What do you do?
"
I know that i am not thinking about this question but my mind tells me that i am n thats coz when i read the question i found it interesting.
The question is about chance i suppose and a related mathematical term is probability.
If the question wants us to calculate the probabilty of getting the million dollars ( or 1000 more ) then it is ofcourse a mathematical question but it seeems to me that we can have different pre-assumptions before calculating the probability.
Anyway if we solve and get an answer, should we go by that answer?
I mean to say that though the question "might" want us to go by the probability value, is that a correct thing to do?
The question going on in my mind is one i read on the net 2-3 days ago, it goes as follows:
u are in a tv show, something like khulja sim sim, and u r given a choice out of three doors and u r told that one of them holds the prize money and the other two are empty.
u choose a door, say A and then the anchor opens a door, say B, and shows u that its empty.
he now gives u a choice to switch to door C. Should u stick to A or switch to C?
The inituitive answer(mine) is that after opening B, A and C have 50-50 chance of having the prize but the site says the answer is 2/3 for prize money in C ( use Baye's Theorem ) so we should go by the side of C. But is it correct to trust the probability.
I mean its chance, its luck and its just doesn't matter what door u open as the prize can behind any door n u don't know.
So just take a risk(its not at all risk, its just choosing between two possible choices) and go with any door, isn't it?