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Subject: Re: OT: New and final solution of the Monty Hall Dilemma

Author: Roy Eassa

Date: 14:50:46 09/25/02

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On September 25, 2002 at 17:45:03, Rolf Tueschen wrote:

>On September 25, 2002 at 17:33:00, Roy Eassa wrote:
>
>>On September 25, 2002 at 16:31:55, Joachim Rang wrote:
>>
>>>On September 25, 2002 at 15:46:14, Rolf Tueschen wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 25, 2002 at 14:35:29, Joachim Rang wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On September 25, 2002 at 12:38:06, Rolf Tueschen wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Please take a look at my revolutionary solution of this confusing problem:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>http://hometown.aol.de/rolftueschen/monty.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>At first I went into the net and collected all sort of data for my page. I
>>>>>>wanted to show how important methods and methodology are for science and also
>>>>>>statistics. In special the exact defining of the terms.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Then suddenly I had the inspiration and in a few minutes whitewashed a million
>>>>>>people who as pupils, students or even professors let them be proved wrong by
>>>>>>Marilyn vos Savant who has an IQ of 228. For decades now the Monty Hall Problem
>>>>>>is taken as example for conditioned probability, which is wrong!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Hope you enjoy my revelations. Please tell me if you want to comment.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Rolf Tueschen
>>>>>
>>>>>hm, I didn't read all your stuff (its simple too much), but if I understand you
>>>>>correctly, you claim, that the probability is 50% in both cases (switch or
>>>>>stick). Right?
>>>>>
>>>>>Than you're wrong ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>>Only a simple note:
>>>>>
>>>>>you wrote: the help of the host....(There is no help - Rolf Tueschen)
>>>>>
>>>>>actually there is help. Because the host can not choose to open a door _before_
>>>>>you made your choice. He has to wait, which door you choose and than to open
>>>>>from the left two doors the wrong one. This condition you may interpret as help
>>>>>from the host.
>>>>
>>>>I like your reasoning. But it can't succeed. I am sure you saw that I already
>>>>accepted that - sure - the host "helped" to bring the situation from 1/3 to 1/2.
>>>>But unfortunately he didn't help more. But I'm open for explanations. Let me ask
>>>>the following: Are you aware of the difference between a unique situation and
>>>>the general question about the general probability in the long run? Because I do
>>>>not deny that say a group of hundred people as a group have more wins if they
>>>>switch! But the problem we have here, how you want to prove the increase above
>>>>1/2 for a single unique case. I think that this is the crucial point of the
>>>>whole problem. And I'm sure that all the experts who opposed Marilyn vos Savant
>>>>at the beginning did it because they knew that for the particular case
>>>>conditioned probability could not help. But then they were influenced by the
>>>>rich vocabulary of the smart woman.
>>>>
>>>>Rolf Tueschen
>>>
>>>
>>>Okay, let's try:
>>>
>>>Assumptions:
>>>
>>>1. There are 3 doors, each with a winning probability of 1/3
>>>2. The host has to open a "wrong" door.
>>>
>>>Setting 1:
>>>
>>>The host anounces which door he will open _before_ you make your first choice.
>>>Because he has to open a "wrong" door, after that the chances of the two
>>>remaining doors are 1/2
>>>
>>>Setting 2:
>>>
>>>The host has to open a door _after_ your first choice. If you choose a "wrong"
>>>door the host is _forced_ to open the only remaining "wrong" door. This changes
>>>the setting similiar to one, when you have to choose between three doors with a
>>>probability of 2/3.
>>>
>>>Okay I can't explain it scientifically correct, but the "mystic" lays in the
>>>dependency of your first choice and the second of the host.
>>
>>
>>OK, I'll take my shot at wording the explanation:
>>
>>
>>"If n is the starting number of doors...
>>
>>The door you choose always has (from your perspective) a 1/n chance of being the
>>winner.  All the unopened doors COMBINED (assuming there's at least one) always
>>have a (n-1)/n chance.  If Monty opens one of those doors that he KNOWS is not a
>>winner, that does not change the fact that all the (remaining) unopened doors
>>combined have a (n-1)/n chance.  But since there are now fewer of them among
>>which to divide it, each INDIVIDUAL unopened door's chance is (from your
>>perspective) higher than before.
>>
>>Thus in the 3-door example, your door has a 1/3 chance and the one remaining
>>unopened door has a 2/3 chance of being the winner."
>
>
>Simply wrong maths.
>
>There is no "the one remaining unopened door" because there are at least two!
>And the candidate has only a single chance to make a choice. Now please try to
>explain why for such a case the two doors still closed shout get a different
>treatment.
>
>In the 1000 thought experiment I could make the following proposal. I return the
>formerly chosen - but still closed - door. Now Monty could go down until two
>doors were left. One must be the one with the car. The chances for the two are
>different??? I don't think so. 50% both. QED
>
>Rolf Tueschen


The door you chose at the start has a 1/n chance.  The fact that Monty opens
some irrelevant doors (which he KNOWS are not winners) does not change the fact
that your door has a 1/n chance.

Thus however many doors remain closed have the remainder of the chance, i.e.,
(n-1)/n. QED.



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