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Rumor Mill (Posted on 2004-12-03) Difficulty: 4 of 5
Waldo is having a party and has 50 guests, among whom is his brother Basil.

Basil starts a rumor about Waldo; a person hearing this rumor for the first time will then tell another person chosen uniformly at random the rumor, with the exceptions that no one will tell the rumor to Waldo or to the person they heard it from.

If a person who already knows the rumor hears it again, they will not tell it again.

What's the probability that everyone, except Waldo, will hear the rumor before it stops propagating?

What if each person told two people chosen uniformly at random?

No Solution Yet Submitted by SilverKnight    
Rating: 4.0000 (6 votes)

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
Puzzle AnswerK Sengupta2023-10-21 23:23:32
Solutionre: First PartKyle2005-01-04 14:45:41
Probablitiychris2004-12-16 18:03:28
re: Scratching my Headowl2004-12-06 03:50:38
Some ThoughtsScratching my Headowl2004-12-06 02:39:18
re: Stat. analysis of Charlie's part 2Charlie2004-12-05 01:23:58
The next million trialsCharlie2004-12-04 03:58:37
re: More refined simulation for part 2Charlie2004-12-04 03:16:52
More refined simulation for part 2Charlie2004-12-03 22:05:23
Better Simulation for Part 2Charlie2004-12-03 20:53:37
Stat. analysis of Charlie's part 2Jer2004-12-03 18:41:21
Part 2 solution?Charlie2004-12-03 17:09:43
Part 2 simulationCharlie2004-12-03 16:22:19
SolutionFirst PartCharlie2004-12-03 14:41:52
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