(no subject)

[wildflowersoul]

Ok, this riddle is nagging at my brain. There is an interesting and lively discussion of it over on Metafilter, of course. That's where I get all my good internet stuff. So the riddle is: "I have two children. One is a boy born on a Tuesday. What is the probability I have two boys?"

Ok, I understand, clinically, why 1/3 may technically be the correct answer (leaving off all the Tuesday probability crap that hurts to think about). But it does not make sense! The combination of older boy/younger girl and older girl/younger boy still leads to the same result in a binary system! The two combinations are essentially the same thing, for the purposes defined by how the question is phrased. The chances of one child being a boy is fifty/fifty! The only answer that makes sense is 1/2! *my brain explodes*



Discussing this with Drew last night brought us back to the old Ralph Wiggum "Sleep, that's where I'm a viking!" debate. I still can't see how anyone thinks the joke is that he dreams of being a viking, when the metaphor of viking = awesome at sleeping is so obviously a much funnier joke. He is a viking at sleeping! That is hilarious. Dreaming of being a viking is not that funny.

Comments

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with logic puzzles, actually...it's the exact opposite of that.

Last night I had a very vivid dream of you being on American Idol. You had a series of tubs and plastic containers with various levels of water in them so that they made different sounds, and performed a bucket version of "Poker Face."

There was a famous person there that I had a long conversation with, but their name escapes me now that I'm awake. Maybe Nathan Fillion?

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

Hee! It involved me, performance art, and Lady Gaga, I think that officially qualifies as a nightmare!

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

For the record: You sang very well. And your pickle bucket drumming was divine.

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

AWESOME!

[incandes-flower.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? I don't understand why it would matter what day the kid is born on. If you have two children and one is a boy, you have a 50% of having two boys. I need more explanation. This makes no sense to me either.

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

Apparently the probability works like this- you have four options for a two child combination: Boy/Boy, Girl/Girl, Boy/Girl, Girl/Boy (where in the last one it's Older Boy/Younger Girl and Older Girl/Younger boy). You rule out Girl/Girl because you know there's at least one boy. So that leaves 3 options, and hence a probability of 1/3. Which does not make any sense to me, either, because the birth order has nothing to do with boyness or girlness!

And the Tuesday thing involves math on a scale that I just can't comprehend with my brain.

[tenillypo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm with Mere -- that question isn't worded correctly. Why is birth order relevant?

Also: I will never agree about the Viking thing! Heh.

[incandes-flower.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just read the explanation and that question is not worded correctly. It isn't asking what they say it is asking.

[komos.livejournal.com]

I think metaphor may be a little outside of Ralphie's ken. Most of his lines make him out to be pretty literal (if delightfully misinformed):

"I'm a unitard!"
"I like men now!"
"My knob tastes funny."
"Fireworks makes my ears yell."

And of course...
"It tastes like burning."

[tenillypo.livejournal.com]

"My cat's breath smells like cat food."