Engineer- OR, Mathematician test

To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations Reasearch
type, give them the following problem:

A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two socks; one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on the
next withdrawal?

"Lat705" wrote in message
...
To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations
Reasearch
type, give them the following problem:

A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two socks;
one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on
the
next withdrawal?

49/97

Joe F.

rb608 wrote:

"Lat705" wrote:
A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two socks; one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on the
next withdrawal?

49/97

Huh ? If you've already got a green one and a red one the probability
of having a matching pair on the next withdrawal is 100%.

--
Ken Fortenberry- Liberal Arts Major

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 15:42:29 GMT, "rb608"
wrote:

"Lat705" wrote in message
...
To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations
Reasearch
type, give them the following problem:

A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two socks;
one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on
the
next withdrawal?

49/97

Maybe it's too early in the morning and I'm missing an otherwise obvious
pitfall, but I'd have said 98-98...Or, "1"...

/daytripper (now awaiting the derisive laughter ;-)

You allready have a pair that's close enough -why bother reaching in again.

"rb608" wrote in message
...
"Lat705" wrote in message
...
To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations
Reasearch
type, give them the following problem:

A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two
socks;
one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on
the
next withdrawal?

49/97

Joe F.

"Lat705" wrote in message
...
To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations
Reasearch

Assuming the red socks are all identical to each other, and the green socks
are all identical to each other, then your next withdrawal will give you a
pair. This is a certainty, not a probability.

Much more interesting is if you withdraw two green socks to start with, what
is the probability of getting a pair on the next withdrawal?

Or even, if you reach into an unknown sock drawer at random, what is the
probability of withdrawing a dildo?

Sock it to me baby!

TL
MC

An engineer, to vent his spleen,
got some socks in red and green,
he placed them in a simple box,
and proceeded then to withdraw socks.

The first sock he withdrew was red,
at which he frowned and scratched his head,
taking up his old slide rule,
he calculated long and cool,

Finally he made advances,
at working out withdrawal chances,
a green sock he then brought to light,
he calculated long, all night.

At last he dipped into the drawer,
and groped around for just one more,
but he could not prove his theory,
for it had got to dark to see,

Disillusioned, baffled, beat,
he placed two odd socks on his feet,
nobody noticed his odd way,
for socks at night, like cats, are grey.

An engineer or mathematician,
should stick to calculating fission,
for calcuilating socks is sad.
the results may turn out to be bad.

Should you wish to avoid his plight,
slide-ruling about all night,
then just ignore this colour cack,
make sure all your socks are black!

TL
MC

"Lat705" wrote in message
...
To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations
Reasearch
type, give them the following problem:

A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two socks;
one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on
the
next withdrawal?

The question is too vague to generate a unique correct answer.

On the second draw, do you toss the original two socks and draw another
pair?

Or you do draw one additional sock to add to the current set, from which you
try to make a matched pair?

Pretty much ousted myself with that response...

"Stan Gula" wrote in message
The question is too vague to generate a unique correct answer.

On further reflection, and in view of the responses thus far, I'd concede
that this is the correct answer.

Joe F.
(otherwise, I'll change my answer to 48/97.)

On 06 Mar 2004 15:18:24 GMT, (Lat705) wrote:

To tell whether a person is an engineer, or a mathematics/ Operations Reasearch
type, give them the following problem:

A box contained 50 red socks and 50 green socks. You withdrew two socks; one
green and one red. What is the probability of having a matching pair on the
next withdrawal?

Please provide me your understanding of the term "matching pair". In
what soical context do you utilize "matching pair". Etc. etc. until a
thesis has been produced.

(The Anthropologist's response).

Peter

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