Overheard

“The summer weather is expected to last well into next week.”

“Watch your step as you exit the train, and if you’re late, just remember that life is a lot like being on this train: we may not be there yet, but we’re getting there.”

“There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order.”

“Description: MySQL server has gone away”

“According to Golf Digest, from 1996 to 2007, Woods made $769,440,709. Golf Digest predicts that, by 2010, Woods will become the world’s first athlete to pass one billion dollars in earnings.”

Comments

1. If I'm reading this correctly, the witness is equally reliable identifying green or blue cabs, so the witness's assertion that the cab was Blue is 80% likely to be true. But given the different sample sizes I'm probably oversimplifying and maybe Bayesian formulas should be brought into play.

2. Can you make a sundial with one of the sticks, with enough markings around the outside to show quarter hours? Of course, you'd need to track the movement of the sun for a day to get the hours, so that's probably wrong.

Posted by Christina  at  11:01 pm on Nov. 27, 2006

1. Um, 80%?! That's what they tested right?

2. You didn't say you didn't have a watch, so time it? What would you want to burn rope for 15 minutes for anyway?

Posted by Kathryn  at  7:06 pm on Dec. 9, 2006

light three ends simultaneously.

First rope with both ends lit burns completely that is 30 minutes; because if it took 60 min. for it to burn completely if only one end is lit.

When rope 1 is burnt up, light remaining unlit end of rope 2.

When it meets the burning portion on rope 2, 15 minutes will have passed.

Posted by Rik Warren  at  8:02 am on May. 21, 2008

Yes, the rope question is answered right.

The cab question, the answer is: 41% lkely to be correct (so, more likely to be wrong). He'll be correct 12 out of 29 guesses. See: http://www.esmerel.com/circle/numeracy/accident.html

Posted by Travis Smith  at  2:21 pm on May. 21, 2008

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