There is a bag with balls numbered 1 to 9. Two players take turns at randomly taking a ball from the bag. If a player gets three balls that sum fifteen, he wins. Getting fifteen with more or less balls doesn't count.

What are the odds of the first player winning? Of a draw?

(In reply to faulty "solution" by Charlie)

The obvious possible fault would be the numbers itself. But I'm assuming you checked that before even posting it up.

Something else to check. For the second player to win, did you eliminate the possibilities that the first player could've already won? For example, if the second player gets 3 4 8, did you eliminate the one where the first player already got 1 5 9?

And if the first player wins on the 4th or 5th draw, did you eliminate any possibilities that the second player already won on his 3rd or 4th draw?

Btw, I don't know programming at all so I don't know if your program checks that already.

Posted by np_rt on 2005-03-24 15:54:20