There are three safes with three different quantities of cash inside them, but you have no idea how much any of them are. When you open a safe you either take what is there or pass. If you take it you can’t choose another. If you pass you can’t go back to it. Can you improve your odds of the biggest payout to higher than 1/3?
The first new player to comment on the website with the correct answer wins a free drink at their next iQ Trivia show.
You should always reject the first, then always accept the second if it is higher, reject it if it is lower.
You would get the highest 1/2 the time, the middle 1/3 of the time, and the lowest 1/6 of the time.
That’s exactly how you do it, and you even got the probabilities right.
This is the Monty Hall problem and the answer is YES, you can!
It’s similar to the Monty Hall problem.
Also, we’ve asked about the Monty Hall problem before.
I used a spreadsheet to game out the possibilities, and ended up with exactly what Katie said.
Three safes, A B and C.
Open A, never take it.
Open B, take if higher, reject if lower and take what’s in C.
50% highest value
33% middle value
17% lowest value
NERRRRRRRRRRRD!