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Read Marilyn?



Hi,

There has certainly been a lot of "Marilyn bashing" on the list lately, and her "weightlessness explanation" last Sunday certainly didn't help her cause.

I feel a little bit obligated to stick up for her, however, in light of a TV game show based "probability and statistics" problem/puzzle she presented a few years ago. She took a tremendous amount of heat from "the academy" over her answer; often to the point of vilification. Critical comments were sent in from Ivy-league college math and science professors lamenting the sorry state of education in this country, that she should proffer such an obviously wrong solution. One called "her" the "goat", (which was the booby prize in the problem). The comments were full of self-righteousness and condescension

I had gleefully joined the fray and mocked her and her answer myself (in class!) when one of my students showed me with a relatively clear, simple analysis (clearer than Marilyn's) that she was (is) in fact right, and we are (were) wrong.

Since that time, I have tried to pay my penitence by giving her the credit she deserves whenever I present the problem/puzzle. It does tend to evoke some spirited debate, and I almost came to blows with some of my relatives over the solution,

If you are interested in the piece, it can be found at the "Marilyn is Wrong" web site http://www.wiskit.com/marilyn/marilyn.html

filed in "Marilyn is tricked by a game show host (10/03/98) "

http://www.wiskit.com/marilyn/gameshow.html

I think that the author of this site twists and distorts the original premise of the problem in a (misguided) attempt to conjure a wrong answer out of Marilyn's correct solution.

Certainly, she is not always right; but she isn't as wrong as this site would have you believe.

Stu Leinoff