We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
The Bananas and the Gorillas
Topic Started: Jun 23 2005, 09:36 PM (155 Views)
Curry
Member Avatar

[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
You are one of the several individuals who are allowed once a day to enter the gorilla cave in the zoo. Like any of the other visitors, each time you enter, you have to distribute 10 bananas over three bags, and put the three bags in a corner of the cave. Subsequently you watch the same ritual that happens each day and with each visitor:

  1. The leader of the pack, a huge black gorilla, approaches the three bags, looks in all three bags, and takes the bag that contains the most bananas. If the number of bananas in that bag exceeds what he got from the previous visitor, the gorilla is happy and throws a gold coin at you. If the number of bananas is the same, the gorilla will be in neutral mode: nothing happens and the gorilla disappears. However, if the number of bananas is less than what he received from the previous visitor, the gorilla gets angry and approaches you with clear intentions. Only when you throw a gold coin at him he will disappear and won’t attack you.

  2. These events repeat itself with the next gorilla, a large brown specimen: he approaches the two remaining bags, looks in both bags, and takes the one with the most bananas. If the number of bananas in that bag exceeds the number he got from the previous visitor, the gorilla is happy and throws a gold coin at you. If the number of bananas is the same, nothing happens and the gorilla disappears. However, if the number of bananas is less than what he received from the previous visitor, the gorilla gets angry and you have to throw a gold coin at him to prevent him from attacking you.

  3. The last gorilla, a big elderly member of the group approaches the last bag, takes this bag and counts the number of bananas in it. If the number of bananas in that bag exceeds the number he got from the previous visitor, he throws a gold coin at you. If the number of bananas is the same the gorilla disappears. However, if the number of bananas is less than what he received from the previous visitor, the gorilla gets angry and you have to throw a gold coin at him to prevent him from attacking you.

Obviously, in this daily routine your intention is to gain as many gold coins as you can, and lose as few as possible. But you can’t please all three gorillas at the same time. You don't know the other cave visitors and have no means to communicate with them. Also, the order in which the various visitirs are allowed to enter the cave is completely random.

What is your strategy? How will you distribute the 10 bananas over the three bags?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Trav-man
Member Avatar
That's Travtastic!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
My strategy is to not go in the cage at all. -_-

But... I guess maybe I would put.. 5, 3, and 2? I don't see how this works if you don't know what the last person put. O_o
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
forthenight
Member
[ *  * ]
My stratagy would be 6, 4, and 0. We are allowed to leave an empty bag, right? Hopefully with this stratagy I'll have more with the first gorilla, and equal amount or more with the second, and most likely less with the final gorilla.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Trav-man
Member Avatar
That's Travtastic!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
forthenight
Jun 23 2005, 07:49 PM
My stratagy would be 6, 4, and 0. We are allowed to leave an empty bag, right? Hopefully with this stratagy I'll have more with the first gorilla, and equal amount or more with the second, and most likely less with the final gorilla.

That is... very smart. The probability of winning all 3 times is next to zero, so it's smarter to go in and win twice and lose once every time. You gain 1 coin roughly per entrance. Woo, you're a genius. :geek:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Community Chat · Next Topic »
Add Reply