You are given a biased coin that lands on heads with probability k and tails with probability 1-k (k ∈ (0,1)). Without knowing the value of k, how can you use this coin to simulate a fair coin?
I'll post the solution next time.
Musings of a physicist, mostly on logic puzzles involving people wearing hats. However, I can't promise that I won't occasionally get sidetracked into ramblings on other math or physics.
Frisbee Flipping
So, a question that I found on the intertubes some time ago was re-inspired by talking with Andres. In a game of ultimate frisbee, the teams must flip a coin to decide who goes first, however, a fair coin is not usually available. What is available are frisbees, so they try to use them as coins. Its not hard to guess that a frisbee does not make a great coin, as it is biased to land on one side over another. This gives us the problem to solve:
I'll post the solution next time.
I'll post the solution next time.
I'm disappointed. I show up on your blog expecting a new and interesting brain teaser to fill my day.
ReplyDeleteAnd it takes me about 2 minutes to figure out the solution.
Kory fails to entertain.
(I don't think I should post a solution)
- !bob