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

Author: Sune Fischer

Date: 10:57:27 09/26/02

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On September 25, 2002 at 17:33:00, Roy Eassa wrote:
>
>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."

Yes, this is the correct solution.

The funny thing is, that he must KNOW where the car is. If he doesn't KNOW and
still opens a door to a goat, there is no reason to change your choice of door.
In that case ALL the remaining doors simply get 1/(n-1) chance.

Quite an interesting exercise :)

-S.



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