Re: [Phys-l] Monty Hall problem

[chuck britton <cvbritton@mac.com>]

I'm really sorry folks - there must some kind of 'Suction Cup' effect 
or such going on here that I'm not getting.

a)	The host WILL open one of the two doors that you did not pick.
b)	 That door WILL have a goat behind it because we are engaged 
in a Game Show
	instead of purely pedantic exercise.
c)	You double your chances by switching.

	I see that b) may be source of my confusion ;-)

What's wrong with Marilyn's answer (otherwise)?
.
At 12:25 PM -0700 1/5/11, John Denker wrote:
> On 01/05/2011 11:37 AM, chuck britton wrote:
> >  Interesting development - so,
> >
> >     In what way is this OTHER statement of the problem ill-posed,
> >  ambiguous, underspecified, etc.
> >     The contestants optimal strategy (still) seems clear to me.
>
> I (still) think it would be good for people to look at
> the table about 2/3rds of the way down on this page:
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem
> Search for the word "unspecified".
>
> The sheer length of the table should convince you that
> "THE" Monty Hall problem is underspecified.
>
> I think you will find that depending details that were not
> specified in the question -- or in her original answer --
> you will find that her strategy is in *some* cases the
> worst possible strategy, i.e. guaranteed to _always_ lose.