Re: [Phys-l] Monty Hall problem

["Folkerts, Timothy J" <FolkertsT@bartonccc.edu>]

> But since no one has yet shown a published version other than the 
> 'Host DOES open a goat door and DOES offer a switch' the various 
> 'interpretations' are a bit disingenuous.

The "original" version I saw said:
" Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three
doors. Behind one door is a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a
door, say #1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens
another door, say #3, which has a goat. He says to you, "Do you want to
pick door #2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?

-Craig F. Whitaker Columbia, Maryland"

There is nothing in this that explicitly indicates any sort of pattern.
I only see that in ONE INSTANCE the host offered this choice.  Just
saying "DOES" is ambiguous in this case.  It allows both:

'Host DOES THIS TIME open a goat door and DOES THIS TIME offer a switch'
and 
'Host DOES ALWAYS open a goat door and DOES ALWAYS offer a switch'



That said, I would tend to think that -- since this is offered as a
puzzle -- the intent is that the rules are constant.  Otherwise there is
no way to apply any sort of logic to the solution.  So I agree that the
MOST REASONABLE assumption (for a challenge clearly intended as a
mental/mathematical/statistcal exercise) is the "standard" assumption of
"DOES ALWAYS" and a neutral host, but it is certainly not the ONLY
choice.



Tim Folkerts