"The odds of picking four letters at random from this sentence, and then finding them to be F, O, U, and R, are Y out Z".
... this is it, I guess, thanks Allan -- wait: "X out Z" or "X out of Z"? I prefer "pick" to "select" (suggested by Neil) as "select" seems to imply that the sampler carefully chooses -- instead of being blind, no?
Le 11 décembre 2019 à 15:41, Allan Wechsler <acwacw@gmail.com> a écrit :
In English, the technical probability terms are "sampling with replacement" and "sampling without replacement". Perhaps if we say "The odds of picking four letters at random from this sentence, and then finding them to be F, O, U, and R, are Y out Z," the intended protocol will be clearer.
On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 8:58 AM Éric Angelini <bk263401@skynet.be> wrote:
If the probability is 4*11*6*9/132^4, then we have a hit.
... yes, but in my mind once I've picked up a letter, I must erase that letter from the sentence, sorry (how could that figure in the "puzzle-sentence" without using too many words? In French it is a "Tirage sans remise")
In that case, aren't the odds 4*11*6*9/132*131*130*129?
I've almost a hit in French, by reducing the set of possibilities with the "puzzle-sentence" ending in: "[The probability of...] is one on K" -- with K = 132*131*130*129/4*11*6*9. (I didn't count the digits after the comma, though, which is neither correct, nor very elegant! But my error is below 1/10000... Best, É.
Le 11 décembre 2019 à 13:16, Hans Havermann <gladhobo@bell.net> a écrit :
The odds of picking at random the four letters F, O, U, R in this sentence and in that order are Y out of Z.
EA: "The 'FOUR' letter challenge is still open!"
If Y = "one" and Z = "one hundred twenty-seven thousand, seven hundred seventy-six", I make the total letter count of the sentence to be 132, with 4 of 'f', 11 of 'o', 6 of 'u', and 9 of 'r'. If the probability is 4*11*6*9/132^4, then we have a hit. _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun