Monday, December 14, 2015

Marilyn's Marbles...


Always easy when I can kickstart the week with a puzzle from Marilyn vos Savant's column in the Sunday Parade magazine, ICYMI. And once again it's a probability teaser that I'll re-phrase below:

In a gameshow, contestants Donald, Ted, and Marco, and the gameshow host, each have a bag holding 3 colored marbles in front of them. In each bag there is one red, one white, and one blue marble. The host randomly pulls one marble from his bag. Then Donald randomly draws one, then Ted, and then Marco, in that order (each from their own bag). The winner is the FIRST contestant to draw out a marble that matches the color of a previously-drawn marble (by anyone).
WHO has the best chance of winning?
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answer:  Ted  (if you need to see the simple math involved you can visit the problem here:
http://parade.com/442184/marilynvossavant/a-puzzle-of-percentage/ )


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