Friday, September 21, 2007
The three way pistol duel puzzle
You're a cowboy, and get involved in a three way pistol duel with two other cowboys. You are a poor shot, with an accuracy of only 33%. The other two cowboys shoot with accuracies of 50% and 100%, respectively. The rules of the duel are one shot per cowboy per round. The shooting order is from worst shooter to best shooter, so you get to shoot first, the 50% guy goes second, and the 100% guy goes third, then repeat. If a cowboy is shot he's out for good, and his turn is skipped. Where or who should you shoot first?I really like this puzzle, which can be solved with pure probablity crunching, but is more elegantly solved by simple logical reasoning. (Puzzle adapted from one of a big collection here)
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