I think the solutions online already have the correction (that the problem as stated should have a probability of 1/2, not 1/3). I like the analysis incorporating "which kid is outside" as a third letter in the string. --Joshua Zucker On 6/12/06, Andy Latto <Andy.Latto@gensym.com> wrote:
I think the solution to the last of the probability puzzles on the Scientific American web site at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa010&articleID=000E3F5B-04C7-1270-8 4C783414B7F0000 is incorrect.
But since this sort of puzzle is notoriously tricky to get right, I thought I'd check with fellow math-funsters rather than risk embarrassing myself with an incorrect letter to the editors.
Andy Latto andy.latto@pobox.com
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun