c4countdown

I'm going to use my usual think-as-I-type method rather than thinking first. I've heard of something vaguely similar where there are two amounts of money and one is double the other and you "should" always swap because you'd average more by doing so. But I won't get into why that's silly h...

Since I have just made a post about mass nouns elsewhere, I will link to it here as this is the home of the discussion. Sod it - I'll copy the whole post. http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=599&sid=1e265d7274d5b178dfdbd4b619e9bcef#p599 Re the point made by the master himself: ALIMONY i...

Re the point made by the master himself: ALIMONY is indeed a mass noun, although of course that doesn't necessarily mean ALIMONIES wouldn't be allowed (it's a great spot incidentally - I certainly didn't think of it). Any views on whether DC would allow it, if a contestant offered it? If it helps, ...

Yes, people seem to agree with what I would say. Swap in the normal scenario and it's 50/50 in the other.

As far as I understand there's no rule about knowing the running totals is there? It would seem a bizarre rule.

Correct Soo :D thats the best strategy (there are probably a few others with slight variations). I think I know the 4 people scenario you mean, Joseph (there's also a wall behind the front person right?) but I chose this one as its probably a bit more obscure (If not a bit ambiguously explained by ...

Why has viewing the C4Countdown Yahoo Group become a members only pursuit? Obviously one can log in, but since posting is generally discouraged, it seems a bit of a waste of time if one just wants to browse posts.

Okay Gevin, I think I am judging you on posts I have read whilst lurking on your own Countdown group. You just came across as a splitter but I am happy to start off anew since this is a new site and petty arguments are best left to one side. **handshake** Excellent! I'm not 100% sure what a splitte...

Conor wrote:And Red Bull is supposed to give you energy...

It enabled two pringles to defy gravity and float to the top of a cup.

David O'Donnell wrote:

Corby wrote:

Gevin-Gavin wrote:10: 0-0-0-2-2-2-2-1-0-91
Any four from the first seven pirates to get two coins.

Am I any closer?

I agree completely with this answer

Please post the answer Corby before I go insane.

It's in the post you quoted.

I'm still considering merging Recaps with Spoilers. Maybe we can have a poll. If anything, I would merge spoilers with the general forum and leave the recaps. I had the idea that you had a separate recap forum so that it could be left uncluttered and someone could go and find a specific game easily...

What do you guys reckon? :mrgreen: I reckon a suggestion thread is a good idea. That's the only suggestion I liked though. Re-introducing spoiler space? Retarded, when we have the facility to get around such a crude technique. I think maybe the recap and spoiler threads could be merged with the day...

Oh my God!!! Are you seriously criticising the forum after making a point of critising the mailing list? You just want to cause trouble; your posts are endless and boring in the extreme: why don't you bog off? What is your problem? It's not a criticism, but a suggestion. Or at least a constructive ...

Joseph Bolas wrote:It would be ideal IMO to have at least the following in separate forums/subforums:

• Polls
  Recaps
  CO-Events
  Spoilers
  Photos
  Non-Countdown Topics

OK, so you're the opposite! Oh well, it's interesting to see what different people think.

Alison doesn't have Susie's depth of knowledge, and I find Susie's occasional other-worldliness quite endearing. She will sometimes explain the meanings of words, but have no idea how to pronounce them, despite the fact that they are not excessively obscure. I have also seen Susie mispronounce word...

I would suggest that we have a suggestions thread for ideas to move forward (this can even be the thread). This is not meant as a criticism of the forum, which is obviously well run. My first suggestion (excluding the suggestion to have this thread) is that I think that there are too many subforums,...

OK, I think I've done this to death now, so I think I've earnt a "Googling".

Back in the olden days, they had lots of different lexicographers, but then decided to settle upon Susie. I actually quite liked the variation. I think Susie was chosen because she was popular, but I don't think she was necessarily any better at the job than anyone else. And I've seen errors over th...

Wahey, at last! At first, I thought Jon's rules led to a needlessly complicated solution (I'm not just bitter because I arsed it up three times. No siree), but actually I think they result in some very interesting behaviour when you have large numbers of pirates. Clearly, Gevin's solution can be ex...

I just spent ages on a reply but it turned out I wasn't logged in when I submitted and it lost it! But I think I was logged or the quote thing doesn't come up.

I was thinking about this in bed last night (yes, it's quite sad), and I decided that there would be more solutions than I came up with. This is still fine for six I think: 6: 0-2-2-1-0-95 6: 2-0-2-1-0-95 6: 2-2-0-1-0-95 But seven would change. For some reason, I always stuck with two out of the fir...

So I'm still with these as the "correct" possibilites for six pirates. 6: 0-2-2-1-0-95 6: 2-0-2-1-0-95 6: 2-2-0-1-0-95 We now need a 7 case where 4 out of the 6 voters will go with it. #s 5 and 6 will increase by one and #7 will just get whatever is left. But we need two out of #s 1-3 to v...

So, I've been thinking about it a bit more, and here's what I've come up with. 4 and 5 are still as before: 4: 0-0-0-100 5: 1-1-1-0-97 But then there are different possibilities that will give the majority a favourable outcome for the 6 case over the 5 case. 6: 0-2-2-1-0-95 6: 2-0-2-1-0-95 6: 2-2-0-...

Reasoning as I did before, for pirate N's proposal to get accepted in the N pirate case now requires improving the reward of the majority of the pirates in the N-1 pirate case. Starting from 0-0-0-100 for 4 pirates, we get something like: 0-0-0-100 1-1-1-0-97 0-2-2-1-0-95 1-0-3-2-1-0-93 2-1-0-0-2-1...

You might have got me there Paul. I was always including the same pirates in the majority, but that doesn't have to be the case.

With 4 pirates, things are a little different, because pirate 1 can be outvoted by pirates 2 and 3, so pirate 4 has to offer them more than they will get in the 2 and 3 pirate cases. Since they're not getting anything in these cases, 1 gold each will be sufficient, leaving 98 gold for pirate 4. So ...

Hope you don't mind me having multiple goes at this! I've just reread it and seen that the majority need to say yes for the deal to go ahead, so in a draw he walks the plank. So if it gets as far as #3, even if #2 goes for it, #1 won't and it will be the plank. So at #4's turn, #2 and #3 will have t...

How does the voting work when there are an even number of voters and it's a draw? Is there a clue in this (i.e. it will be settled in the first round)? That aside, I would say that it must be possible for the first pirate to survive or all the others would be in exactly the same position and also di...

But then, maybe not. It might be logical for him to look at pirates 5-9 but offer them a more convincing deal than that. They could easily vote him off and use the same principle themselves but not in a 95 and then the rest sense, but a more even spread. But whichever way you look at it, even if the...

Well, the first pirate is really only fighting for his life. He needs to get 5 of the remaining 9 to agree with his idea, and he's unlikely to think too much about giving himself gold. All the pirates know that when it comes to their go, they will be in the same position, so want it to end quickly. ...

Hello I'm Gavin, also known as Gevin. I'm an occasional viewer of Countdown, although I used to watch more frequently. One day I might even apply to go on (although it's probably less likely now than before).