For the Monty Hall problem in particular, I like to imagine more doors. Imagine 1 car and 99 goats. You choose a door with a 1/100 chance it is car, and 99/100 chance the car is one of the other 99 doors. Then, Monty reveals 98 goats, chucking out all the noise, and squashing all that 99/100 goodness down into 1 door. Switch!
I find it helps me. But, when I use this model to try to help other people, it doesn't. They still cannot see why it does not become 50:50. Barbie was right, math is hard.
Apr 15, 2022·edited Apr 15, 2022Liked by TJ Radcliffe
The first time I heard this was from a math teacher at the old Malaspina College. He was telling it to prove that Liberal Arts students couldn't understand science and math properly and were easily fooled by real life situations. He told the instructions incorrectly (everybody does), but I didn't know that until I read the Wiki, which does a great job of explaining the instructions. Nor is it a simple straightforward problem that everyone will understand if they just have enough math. Really, it's a verbal problem. Almost no one (including me) understands what's going on without a diagram (like the "simple solutions" part of the WIki). In fact, I'd say that without a diagram like the "simple solutions" diagram, there's no way you could answer this. In that sense, it's like the word problems that my daughter brings home from school. Even in Grade 4, there are questions so complex that I need a diagram to answer. But maybe that's your point.
For the Monty Hall problem in particular, I like to imagine more doors. Imagine 1 car and 99 goats. You choose a door with a 1/100 chance it is car, and 99/100 chance the car is one of the other 99 doors. Then, Monty reveals 98 goats, chucking out all the noise, and squashing all that 99/100 goodness down into 1 door. Switch!
I find it helps me. But, when I use this model to try to help other people, it doesn't. They still cannot see why it does not become 50:50. Barbie was right, math is hard.
The first time I heard this was from a math teacher at the old Malaspina College. He was telling it to prove that Liberal Arts students couldn't understand science and math properly and were easily fooled by real life situations. He told the instructions incorrectly (everybody does), but I didn't know that until I read the Wiki, which does a great job of explaining the instructions. Nor is it a simple straightforward problem that everyone will understand if they just have enough math. Really, it's a verbal problem. Almost no one (including me) understands what's going on without a diagram (like the "simple solutions" part of the WIki). In fact, I'd say that without a diagram like the "simple solutions" diagram, there's no way you could answer this. In that sense, it's like the word problems that my daughter brings home from school. Even in Grade 4, there are questions so complex that I need a diagram to answer. But maybe that's your point.