Okay, think of a random number between 1 and 1000. Do that twice a day for the next 45 days.
Wait a year then do it again. How many of those numbers will be repeated between the two events? Or to put it another way how good are you at choosing random numbers?
I've got a book of 1000 chess problems. At the beginning of 2016 I decided to solve two of these a day (one in the morning and one in the evening), each problem chosen by me choosing a random number between 1 and 1000. I did this until the middle of February and then it petered out. I started again at the beginning of 2017.
The problems have no obvious solution but more 'best outcome'. I recorded my solutions in an excel spreadsheet and then looked up the solution. Where my solution wasn't 'best outcome' these were marked in red so that I could visit them again in the future, having forgotten the provided solution.
So twice a day for forty five days meant that last year I chose 90 random numbers. And now I'm approaching having chosen another 90 this year. When I go to the spreadsheet I can see previous choices.
How many of this years 'random' choices collided with last years 'random' choices?
On
additional occasions I chose numbers that I had already chosen this year - I remembered the problem as soon as I turned to the page!
So choosing random number is much more difficult that I thought - for me anyway.
Wait a year then do it again. How many of those numbers will be repeated between the two events? Or to put it another way how good are you at choosing random numbers?
I've got a book of 1000 chess problems. At the beginning of 2016 I decided to solve two of these a day (one in the morning and one in the evening), each problem chosen by me choosing a random number between 1 and 1000. I did this until the middle of February and then it petered out. I started again at the beginning of 2017.
The problems have no obvious solution but more 'best outcome'. I recorded my solutions in an excel spreadsheet and then looked up the solution. Where my solution wasn't 'best outcome' these were marked in red so that I could visit them again in the future, having forgotten the provided solution.
So twice a day for forty five days meant that last year I chose 90 random numbers. And now I'm approaching having chosen another 90 this year. When I go to the spreadsheet I can see previous choices.
How many of this years 'random' choices collided with last years 'random' choices?
17
On
6
So choosing random number is much more difficult that I thought - for me anyway.
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