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The prisoners and the beans (Posted on 2005-11-27) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Five prisoners are going to take beans from a bag with 100 beans. They will do it one prisoner at a time, and only once each. No communication is allowed between them, but they can count the beans left in the bag. All prisoners who end with the largest and the smallest number of beans will die.

Who is most likely to survive?

Assume:
1. they are all smart people.
2. they will try to survive first and then try to kill more people.
3. they do not need to take out all the 100 beans.

See The Solution Submitted by pcbouhid    
Rating: 3.8750 (16 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
re: Prisoner's Dilemma Deluxe | Comment 13 of 43 |
(In reply to Prisoner's Dilemma Deluxe by Eric)

Eric's  random strategy makes sense but I'll add two further things:

If the bag has not been touched (still has 100 beans) might picking a definite number (20?) be better.

If only a few (<20?) beans are left the prisoner should take the rest.

I'm going to try a simulation with real people if I have time today.  (Dont worry, I won't kill the losers.  I'll reward the winners.)


  Posted by Jer on 2005-11-30 09:47:08
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