You are on death row, but get to play russian roulette: Would you rather?: (continue reading in post) (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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No using search engines or calculator, just imagine you were given these choices in jail and got 30 seconds to choose.

Would you rather have the executioner (Please excuse my use of firearm terminology, I'm not an expert in guns):

[A] Load 1 chamber of 6 and spin before pull the trigger 6 times (spinning the chamber after each pull)

[B] Load 2 chamber of 6 and spin before pull the trigger 3 times (spinning the chamber after each pull)

[C] Load 4 chamber of 6 and spin before pull the trigger once

If you survive, you are pardoned of all crimes you've committed in the past and get to leave prison (alive, obviously), no compensation tho. (Attempts to end your own life is illegal)

Which of these options would you pick?

No search engine, no calculator pls. I'm bored and wanna make this fun. 😉

If you are confused, ask in comments.

Edit: Reworded it to clarify that the chamber is spinned before the first trigger is pulled.

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[-] Limonene@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Off the top of my head, I think the best chances of survival are: C, A, B. I'm not sure about A vs. C, because A's total odds are hard to calculate in my head, while C is exactly 1/3 (33.33%).

The reason A is better than B is that a 1/6 chance of dying, twice, is better than a 2/6 chance of dying, once. They might seem at first like the same, but consider that one of those 36 chances in the A case is where you get shot twice in a row. That's no worse than a regular death. So it comes out to only 11/36 of dying in the first two rounds of A, but 12/36 of dying in the first one round of B.

spoiler

Using a calculator. it turns out A is actually 0.16% better than C. They're really about the same.

this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024

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