You are tied to your chair and can't get up. Here's a gun with a six-chamber barrel, all chambers empty. Now, I put two bullets in adjacent chambers, I close the barrel and spin it. I put the gun to your head & shoot! Click - you're still alive, Lucky you! Now I'm gonna pull the trigger once more. Which would you prefer, that I spin the barrel first, or I just pull the trigger?
2006-12-11 15:34:20 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
While you spin the gun. I going to see if some of these pretty ladies here want to go spin the bottle. :-p
2006-12-11 15:46:32 · answer #1 · answered by Snaglefritz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just pull the trigger
On the first trigger squeeze, the gun didn't fire. That means that one of the 4 empty chambers was selected before the squeeze. If it was the last chamber of those 4, then the next chamber has a bullet in it, and I'm dead. But, if any of the other 3 chambers was selected, I'm alive. That's a 75% chance of survival.
If you spin the barrel, then there are 4 chances out of 6 for me to survive. That's only a 66.6% chance of survival.
2006-12-11 23:47:41 · answer #2 · answered by Bill C 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm not entirely sure on this (as probability isn't my expertise) but I would pull the trigger.
The reason why is b/c right now if you pull the trigger you have a 3/4 chance that you are alive:
You know that the first shot is empty so it's 1 of 4, out of those 4, 3 will be safe, but 1 won't.
If you spin, you have a 2/3 chance of surviving as there are 2 bullets out of the 6 chambers.
And as 3/4 > 2/3, I'd rather pull the trigger.
2006-12-11 23:46:04 · answer #3 · answered by AibohphobiA 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because you put the bullets in adjacent chambers, I have a better chance of surviving if you just pull the trigger. I currently have a 1/4 chance that the next chamber has a bullet, but if you spin again I revert to a 1/3 chance of being shot.
2006-12-11 23:45:01 · answer #4 · answered by Tim N 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let's start with the easy part: If you spin, you have a flat 1/3 probability of a shot fired.
Now, we know that the first shot was empty. In other words, it could only have been one of 4 chambers. In three of these cases, the next chamber is empty as well, while in one case, the next chamber contains a bullet. In other words, you have a 1/4 chance of a shot fired.
Take your chances with the pull.
2006-12-11 23:47:43 · answer #5 · answered by Keiron 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pulling the trigger
2006-12-11 23:49:23 · answer #6 · answered by ♪♫ ♥ Da JoneZ♥ ♫♪ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spin it. After that, shoot into the air until one fire out, then you may point to your head and pull the trigger.
2006-12-11 23:44:59 · answer #7 · answered by Tenny S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i don't like this question, but i would rather you spin the barrel first. but i think you may need some help because this question is a little off the charts if ya know what i mean
2006-12-11 23:37:41 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pull the trigger. I think the probability that you would live is greater this way.
2006-12-11 23:42:57 · answer #9 · answered by John S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
spin again, its 2/3 instead of 3/5... 6% better
2006-12-11 23:42:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋