Statistics/Probabilities Help

Parent Cafe
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<p>I have a business question that I intuitively know cannot work, or at least something more is needed to make it work, but don’t know anywhere near enough mathematics to articulate, and need to be able to explain it to other people. </p>

<p>Is anyone here a student or parent here who is really good with math, and in particular math related to statistics and probabilities who will accept a comprehensive question in PM? </p>

<p>It’s sort of urgent as I need to get some communication out tonight, if possible.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance if anyone can help.</p>

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<p>It depends what the question is…</p>

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<p>send me a PM and I’ll sic my S onto it</p>

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<p>Hi Marite - you have PM from me; I apologize for the length of it. Blobof, thanks for responding; I sort of feel like I “know” Marite from various posts over time.</p>

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<p>LTS:</p>

<p>I’m PMing you a question from S.</p>

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<p>LTS:</p>

<p>You got a PM from S.</p>

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<p>Marite, he’s really, really good. I cannot thank you enough.</p>

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<p>Damn, now I’m curious what the question was.</p>

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<p>me too. I want to know the question too.</p>

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<p>What is a third and a half of 100?</p>

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<p>If I choose door #1, and Bob then eliminates door #3 as a possibility, should I switch my choice to door #2 or stay with my original choice, door #1?</p>

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<p>NJres, you should just give up and go to SA.</p>

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<p>Xiggi: No trick questions for old people.</p>

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<p>LOL, sorry, at the end of the day it was just a rather boring statistical question (though very important to me), but, when you’re perpetually “late to school”, attempting to find a math solution - that you can in turn use to explain your business problem to a different audience - by googling on “statistics and probabilities” or “pattern recognition”, well, it just isn’t really very workable.</p>

<p>Marite - your son is way cool. Not only is my problem solved and I can finally get some sleep, but I really appreciate the way he laid it out in terms that are easy to follow, understand, and convert into a reasonable conversation.</p>

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<p>Xiggi, I cannot even understand your post, it’s worse than my original problem. LOL. What is the answer, anyway?</p>

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<p>BUT…BUT…WHAT WAS THE QUESTION ???</p>

<p>I think Xiggi’s question plays on words. I could answer it as 33.33 and 50 (third AND a Half) or 16.67 (Half of one third) or 50 (third + half of a third)…any more answers?</p>

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<p>LTS, sorry for having posted such a silly riddle/puzzle. As far probablilities go, please be aware that they are the nemesis of most SAT takers. The problems get a bit simpler by repetition, but are rarely pleasant. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Simba, got it right. The answer is supposed to be 50 -although some people debate the play on words. It works better when spoken. </p>

<p>This is the way one approaches it:</p>

<p>1/3 equals 2/6
One half of 2/6 equals 1/6
So 2/6 plus 1/6 equals 3/6 which is 1/2. </p>

<p>So 1/2 of 100 is 50.</p>

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<p>“What is a third and a half of 100?”</p>

<p>xiggi: I think the answer should be 83.33. When we say one and a half of 4, we compute as 1 four + half of four = 6. If it is two and a quarter of 4 we compute as 2 fours + quarter of 4 = 9.</p>

<p>So a third and half of hundred would be third of 100 (33.33) + half of 100 (50) = 83.33.</p>

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<p>Haha, Simba. I know this could be debated ad nauseam … a bit like the semantics of probabilities. </p>

<p>Here’s another twist: </p>

<p>What is a third and a half of 100? Could it be 1/3 plus one half of 100 - that is .33 + 50 = 50.33. </p>

<p>One just has to decide if “a third and a half” is different from “one third and one half.” Nothing is ever simple. :)</p>

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<p>What this shows is the importance of precise apprehension of verbal meanings so that ambiguities can be avoided (or exploited, if you’re in that camp). :)</p>