[math-fun] “Random” cards
If you ask people to name a random card in a standard deck, what regularities govern their answers? (Is this something someone has looked at?) Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17. Jim Propp
See revealing-psychology-playing-card-magic/ <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/revealing-psychology-playing-card-magic/> It is interesting that results depend on whether one is asked to i"name" a card or "visualize" a card. On Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 9:06 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
If you ask people to name a random card in a standard deck, what regularities govern their answers?
(Is this something someone has looked at?)
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
Interesting! Unfortunately, the link http://www.perceptionweb.com/abstract.cgi?id=p7175 doesn’t seem to work. I wonder if the study was retracted. In any case, given how many cards are in a deck, I suspect you’d need quite a few subjects in order to draw statistically valid conclusions. Jim On Thursday, April 12, 2018, W. Edwin Clark <wclark@mail.usf.edu> wrote:
See revealing-psychology-playing-card-magic/ <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/revealing-psychology- playing-card-magic/> It is interesting that results depend on whether one is asked to i"name" a card or "visualize" a card.
On Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 9:06 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
If you ask people to name a random card in a standard deck, what regularities govern their answers?
(Is this something someone has looked at?)
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
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I suspect there is a strong cultural component to this. Different cultures have very different notions of "lucky" vs. "unlucky" numbers, for instance. Even within a culture, age probably plays a factor as well. Tom James Propp writes:
If you ask people to name a random card in a standard deck, what regularities govern their answers?
(Is this something someone has looked at?)
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
Jim Propp
There were 96 subjects (college students, naturally) in the study. Jim On Thursday, April 12, 2018, Tom Karzes <karzes@sonic.net> wrote:
I suspect there is a strong cultural component to this. Different cultures have very different notions of "lucky" vs. "unlucky" numbers, for instance. Even within a culture, age probably plays a factor as well.
Tom
James Propp writes:
If you ask people to name a random card in a standard deck, what regularities govern their answers?
(Is this something someone has looked at?)
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
Jim Propp
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3 is the only random number amongst 1,2,3,4 knuth has a card trick based on it On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 7:52 AM William Cheswick <ches@cheswick.com> wrote:
Tom Duff says that 17 is the first random number.
On 12Apr 2018, at 9:06 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
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I believe Dirac said that 17 was the lowest arbitrary integer. - Cris
On Apr 13, 2018, at 6:24 AM, Thane Plambeck <tplambeck@gmail.com> wrote:
3 is the only random number amongst 1,2,3,4
knuth has a card trick based on it On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 7:52 AM William Cheswick <ches@cheswick.com> wrote:
Tom Duff says that 17 is the first random number.
On 12Apr 2018, at 9:06 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
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--- which via Russell's paradox implies that it is no longer arbitrary ... WFL On 4/13/18, Cris Moore <moore@santafe.edu> wrote:
I believe Dirac said that 17 was the lowest arbitrary integer. - Cris
On Apr 13, 2018, at 6:24 AM, Thane Plambeck <tplambeck@gmail.com> wrote:
3 is the only random number amongst 1,2,3,4
knuth has a card trick based on it On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 7:52 AM William Cheswick <ches@cheswick.com> wrote:
Tom Duff says that 17 is the first random number.
On 12Apr 2018, at 9:06 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Cf. the observation that when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the most common answer is 17.
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participants (9)
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Cris Moore -
Fred Lunnon -
Henry Baker -
James Propp -
Thane Plambeck -
Tom Karzes -
Veit Elser -
W. Edwin Clark -
William Cheswick