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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Jeopardy

I hope some of you are watching Jeopardy.

Ben, the contestant who has won at least 5 days in a row, I think, looks very familiar.

Here he is.

This is funny:
With great intentions, he bought two “very thick books filled with lists of facts, and promised myself I’d read through them every night,” he says. “That lasted exactly one night. I can’t memorize facts very well. I spent a lot of time adding and subtracting large numbers with pen and paper, because I didn’t want to mess up the final wager, especially being a math major.”

3 comments:

  1. He won again last night ---- but he's using his arithmetic all wrong!

    He's working out EXACTLY how much to wager in the final bet so as to come out only 1 or 2 dollars ahead of the highest dollar amount the runner-up could have -- which last night was nuts.

    He beat the runner up by $2 when he could have beaten her by .... gosh, $150K?

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  2. Oh wait.

    That's got to be wrong.

    You probably can't wager your winnings from previous days.

    His winnings last night were ... I dunno. Maybe $9K?

    He could have bet the whole $9K; instead he bet just enough to win by $2.

    He's doing that every night.

    (Unless I've got my own arithmetic wrong, which is a possibility.)

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  3. If he's far enough ahead, he can bet such that even if the others get the final answer right and he's wrong, he'll still end up with more money and win.

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