The Lambda Method for Catching Kangaroos

May 4, 2018 12:44 AM

Have you heard of the Kruskal Count? (explanation)
posted by Literaryhero (8 comments total)

Didn't work for me on the first try, so I'm in the 10%?
posted by sammyo at 5:34 AM on May 4, 2018

I did it twice and it worked both times, but I guess as they say, when you're right 52% of the time, you're wrong 48% of the time!

Also, the explanation makes perfect sense, which satisfies me for some reason. Kind of the exact opposite of the Monty Hall problem.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:42 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Since today is Pi Day, this is a timely post
posted by thelonius at 6:25 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

It’s interesting to me to think of this as a magic trick. Implicitly I assume that “magic” means if you pull off the sleight of hand correctly, it’ll work. Probabilistic magic is a new idea to me.
posted by eirias at 6:25 AM on May 4, 2018

Didn't work until I realized the face cards were only supposed to count as 5, not 10. But yup, it works. Neat!
posted by emelenjr at 10:51 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of this puzzle I saw earlier this week.

One of those moments where it feels I can see the internal machinery of the internet. Article A led to someone reading and posting article B. etc.
posted by macrael at 5:52 PM on May 4, 2018

I haven't heard of it phrased this way, but most people who study CS know a bit about Pollard's rho algorithm for factorization, which is just a practical application of basically the same idea.
posted by miyabo at 8:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Huh, neat. The first time worked. Second time, near the end, my brain said, "ooh, looks like it'll be one off." Landed on an Ace.
posted by quinndexter at 9:54 AM on May 5, 2018