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

Author: Rolf Tueschen

Date: 15:51:28 09/25/02

Go up one level in this thread


On September 25, 2002 at 17:50:46, Roy Eassa wrote:

>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.

Roy, that is perfectly ok in the long run but not for trials n=1. Just take a
look into the table at the bottom of my Monty-page. There you can see that
trials begin with n=9. Result: already zero in the confidence interval for no
switches. Go lower and you get negative signs. :)

Rolf Tueschen



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