Search found 13318 matches
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:15 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Numbers game and running totals...
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4356
Re: Numbers game and running totals...
The intermediate results do have to be integers, though, which would be difficult to check otherwise. WTP calculated that this does actually make a few games impossible which would otherwise be possible, which is interesting. But in some cases it would be obvious that it always remains an integer, ...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:11 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
Regarding Beevers v Gallen - looking at the Countdown Corral, Craig scored 92.1% of the possible in his Octochamp run and Paul 83.8%. Obviously this doesn't count as Paul Gallen's greatness is based on the premise that he improved massively for the CofC. So looking at those four games: 125/141 118/1...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:51 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Versus Par
- Replies: 46
- Views: 8047
Re: Versus Par
That still rewards plodders over flair players. My system? I don't see why really. Obviously the plodders are being rewarded in the particular rounds where the flair players have their words disallowed, but that's how it should be. I can't see any other way. However, the scoring system that we use ...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:47 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Versus Par
- Replies: 46
- Views: 8047
Re: Versus Par
One last post for now - if this is about par, then if in your games you get a lot of easy distributions, you might always get the best word (say it's an 8) but there might be lots of 8s, so it might be par so you don't get anywhere. One way of doing it might be to have the letters games given a rank...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:28 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Versus Par
- Replies: 46
- Views: 8047
Re: Versus Par
So you're saying that giving them 4 or 5 less than they had is preferable to giving them 1 or 2 more? Hmmmmm. Well, the point is that we don't know what they got. But the ranking score for number of letter doesn't have to be linear. As an example, you could have a scoring system where the ranking s...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:18 am
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
Julian, I know that you don't seem to like being mentioned alongside these other greats and say how you wouldn't take them to a crucial conundrum etc., but I think you've said yourself that you let yourself get out of practice so it's not necessarily indicative of you at your peak. There must be som...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:10 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Speaking of inifinity, I think it's quite funny that in a distribution such as the normal distribution where you always get a finite positive value for the density at that point, the average value (which must be infinitessimally small) must be lower than it is for any particular value!
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:07 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Versus Par
- Replies: 46
- Views: 8047
Re: Versus Par
If this is like the par score on UKGameshows, then one criticism is that it punishes disallowed words harshly. I don't think it does. If a player has an eight disallowed and their opponent gets a seven, then the program puts their offering down as a six (offering nonwords should be punished, but no...
- Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:01 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
I started to think about Benford's Law and wondered if I could use this at all. Completely irrelevant to the puzzle, but a quote from the Wikipedia article: Benford's law, also called the first-digit law, states that in lists of numbers from many real-life sources of data, the leading digit is 1 al...
- Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:54 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
It's amusing that in your explanation here, for the first two possibilities you blithely state that it's a 50/50 chance whether you're seeing the higher or lower of the two numbers, when that's the very thing you're trying to disprove... :shock: Is it? But I've been converted now though. If I pick ...
- Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:38 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
I think Stuart Solomons was also pretty impressive at being weird.Ginger Jono wrote:At their respective peaks, the best are Gallen and Beevers. The most impressive ever are Julian for his word defining and Hansford for being weird.
These are indisputable truths.
- Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:37 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
With the possible exception of Allan saldanha. Based only on the Saldanha games I've seen on The Countdown Page, I would say Paul Howe on the form he showed was a much stronger player; Saldanha did miss plenty but was also very capable of streaks of brilliance. Of course, Saldanha also gets a load ...
- Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:30 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 29th January 2008
- Replies: 42
- Views: 7871
Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 29th January 2008
Gevin/Gavin: your post is logical enough but you've answered your own question/point - DC have allowed the likes of PENURIES before so they're not going to be too dogmatic about these things. By the way that is NOT your cue to start bashing DC again as you have done so many times in the past... Wel...
- Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:26 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Versus Par
- Replies: 46
- Views: 8047
Re: Versus Par
I'd be tempted to say that things average out over time and someone probably won't have harder games on average over a whole run than someone else, but then I think they do sometimes change the way the letters come out so some people do have it easier than others. I would say it's not a pointless ex...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:48 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
Every player? There was once upon a time a series of polls on an old Yahoo group, but it didn't include every player, just about 72 of them.Ginger Jono wrote:Do a series of polls of every player ever, in knockout format.
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:39 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
Also the above post was written by the greatest untrophied player in the history of Countdown. With the possible exception of Allan saldanha. Ah sod it, there's only one answer. Gevin mate, can you please start a 'Greatest Countdowner ever' thread in the general forum/ I promise not to delete or lo...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:43 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Right, I've thought about this and it is right. Sorry Paul for doubting you. To explain in my own words: C1 os the number on the first card and C2 the number on the second. We have four possibilities: C1 and C2 are both higher than x - 50/50 chance of winning C1 and C2 are both lower than x - 50/50 ...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:15 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Any properly defined (ie its integral over the reals is one) distribution will work. Randomly drawn numbers implicitly come from such a distribution. Saying "what about other distributions" is kind of like saying "well what if 1=2?". Just doesn't make sense. All that's required ...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:59 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Also, I don't see why it would make any difference if I picked a number before or after seeing the first card. So I could make it better to pick higher or lower depending on what I felt like. But then I could have an opponent who is shown the same cards and always does the opposite of me. We can't ...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:52 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Actually it is correct, just picking 0 every time is a special case, which I was a bit too dismissive to realise as your justification was wrong. The correct solution is also significantly more general in that you could pick ANY number and it would still work, or pick a different number each time. ...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:50 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Also, I don't see why it would make any difference if I picked a number before or after seeing the first card. So I could make it better to pick higher or lower depending on what I felt like. But then I could have an opponent who is shown the same cards and always does the opposite of me. We can't b...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:33 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Yes! Well done mate. The only way this could be wrong is if your number never lies between my numbers, but since this happens with finite (although admittedly very small) probability, this is not the case. This sounds a bit shaky to me. I could pick my number to be zero. And then I would always go ...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:27 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Actually, there is a way to construct this so that you can't make inferences from previous games, unfortunately it's less easy to tell you why this is so, as the proof is rather non-elementary and technical. Well, you could tell us we have just one go at it. Or that our memories are wiped after eac...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:00 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
the frivolous law of large numbers states that most numbers are very very large - surely that doesn't count as advanced mathematics? :P Haha, I've never heard that expression before. I have to admit that after you said that I spent 5 minutes feeling embarrassed because I couldn't figure out how to ...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:56 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
Edit - Having said that, it should be symmetrical around any finite number Nope! Michael, no advanced mathematics is required for this problem. I think anyone on here could come up with the solution, given a suitable flash of insight. Well, I'm going to bed now, but I'll leave you with - do these n...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:19 am
- Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
- Topic: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
- Replies: 38
- Views: 6832
Re: Recap for 24 January 2003 - C of C XI Grand Final
Ah yes, Graham Nash and his shock win. To be honest I think he sort of hinted at it with his post with everyone's odds of winning. That's the sort of thing a winner does. Julian, you failing to win this CofC and Conor in the next - once someone said to me (on another non-Countdown forum actually) th...
- Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:06 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
There is no requirement for symmetry about zero. The answer you and Conor gave supposes that 0 is the "middle" of the numbers, which seems sensible at first glance but is actually false; for any number we can think of there are an infinity of numbers above it and an infinity below, so the...
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:36 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Higher or Lower
- Replies: 127
- Views: 42697
Re: Higher or Lower
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...
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:57 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Official mass noun dispute thread
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4647
Re: Official mass noun dispute thread
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...
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:49 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 29th January 2008
- Replies: 42
- Views: 7871
Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 29th January 2008
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, ...
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:06 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Monty Hall/Take A Deal
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4232
Re: Monty Hall/Take A Deal
Yes, people seem to agree with what I would say. Swap in the normal scenario and it's 50/50 in the other.
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:24 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Numbers game and running totals...
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4356
Re: Numbers game and running totals...
As far as I understand there's no rule about knowing the running totals is there? It would seem a bizarre rule.
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:19 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Hat Trick
- Replies: 11
- Views: 5102
Re: Hat Trick
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 ...
- Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:03 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Re: Suggestions thread?
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.
- Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:14 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Re: Suggestions thread?
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...
- Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:56 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Caption Competition
- Replies: 13
- Views: 6799
Re: Caption Competition
It enabled two pringles to defy gravity and float to the top of a cup.Conor wrote:And Red Bull is supposed to give you energy...
- Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:01 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
It's in the post you quoted.David O'Donnell wrote:Please post the answer Corby before I go insane.Corby wrote:I agree completely with this answerGevin-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?
- Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:48 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Re: Suggestions thread?
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...
- Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:58 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Re: Suggestions thread?
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...
- Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:14 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Re: Suggestions thread?
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 ...
- Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:09 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Re: Suggestions thread?
OK, so you're the opposite! Oh well, it's interesting to see what different people think.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
- Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:37 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Alison/Susie?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 10180
Re: Alison/Susie?
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...
- Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:29 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Suggestions thread?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 8228
Suggestions thread?
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,...
- Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:03 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
OK, I think I've done this to death now, so I think I've earnt a "Googling".
- Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:42 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Alison/Susie?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 10180
Re: Alison/Susie?
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...
- Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:52 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:22 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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.
- Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:56 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:00 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:18 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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-...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:16 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:02 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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.
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:10 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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 ...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:09 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:20 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:07 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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...
- Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:57 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23069
Re: Pirates Puzzle! (no Googling)
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. ...
- Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:46 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Welcome! - Post here first
- Replies: 1962
- Views: 1108240
Re: Welcome!
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).