For Cathy's birthday, her uncle decided to make her a deal. He took ten singles and ten one hundred dollar bills, and asked Cathy to divide them into two piles as she saw fit. He would then blindfold her, and thoroughly shuffle each pile of bills, so that the order was completely random. Finally, he would put each pile in a separate box.

Cathy is to pick one of the two boxes at random, and then pick out a random bill from that box (still blindfolded). She would get to keep whatever bill she pulls out.

Naturally, Cathy prefers to get a $100 bill. What strategy should she use in breaking up the bills into two piles to maximize her chance of getting a hundred?

I am going to do this with my nephews, but I will use $1 and $5 bills (or $10 if my wife calls me a cheap). I'm interested in seeing how they make out.

Posted by cges on 2002-12-17 05:54:11