x0054 on Online executable Python solution to the Tuesday boy problem

Comment on Online executable Python solution to the Tuesday boy problem parent

My python is really rusty, but if you convert this sudocode to python, you will see that the answer is 50/50. I'll write this up in Javascript when I have time. If you do this in Python, please post.

   girl = 0
   boy  = 0

   do 10000 times {
      child1Sex = randomSex;
      child1Day = randomDay;
      child2Sex = randomSex;
      child2Day = randomDay;
      if ( (child1Sex == "B" AND child1Day == "Tu") OR (child2Sex == "B" AND child2Day == "Tu") ) {
         if (child1Sex == child2Sex){
            boy++
         } else {
            girl++
         }
      }
   }

   print "Ratio of boys and girls is " + boy " : " + girl;

daivdOP12y

I whipped together something here, before I saw that someone else did it too: http://ideone.com/jyPOhs

It is the most counter-intuitive statistic problem I know (worse than Monty Hall), it trips everyone up at first.

No problem about the stubborness ;)

krapp 12y

Here's my attempt in python: http://pastebin.com/tSDK1uRv

the range(0,10000) may not be correct, it might need to be 1,10000

x0054 12y

Wow, works good. I should learn python :) But yeah, you were absolutely right! It was hard for me to figure out because I was trying to find a mathematical reason for this, and I was wrong. I finally figured it out mathematically. The way you posit the problem the probability that the asked parents have another boy is (1/2)-(1/7/2).

This is really counter intuitive, the open vs. closed probability set through me off. Hey, thanks for putting up with my stubbornness!

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