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User: admsteiner

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  1. Re:The King and the Chalice -Decentralized - on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    How about we decentralize the leader. In other words, the King *has* to call on everyone an arbitrary number of times. Who cares who the leader is? Make everyone the leader. You always flip the same way, that way being the way you flipped the chalice the first time you went into the room. Since k n*k, as long as someone has flipped it n*k +1 times, he knows that every other prisoner has gone in (mind's a bit mushy, so that math may be off). The only problem left then is that the King might decide to call everyone in once, in which case they'll never go free....but its closer...

  2. Re:The King and the Chalice (only for Experts!) on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    Still runs into the problem with the King overhearing. He could make sure to call them in an arbitrary numbe rof times less than n(k+1).

  3. Re:The King and the Chalice (only for Experts!) on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    Pain in the neck...wanted to go to sleep an hour ago, but now I have to figure this one out :)

  4. Re:The King and the Chalice (only for Experts!) on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    hehe. nwbvt (a thread or two down) raised a good point also. The King can overhear them, so he can either not flip it at all, or flip it less than k times, thus really messing with their heads...

  5. Re:The King and the Chalice (only for Experts!) on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    I may have misread part of the problem. I wasn't sure whether we were told what k was, if the prisoners knew what k was (though in retrospect it makes sense), and whether it was k times in total or k times per flip (though the former would make more sense, after all, who cares if he flips it a thousand times between prisoners?) Good point,thanks for pointing it out.

  6. Re:The King and the Chalice (only for Experts!) on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 2, Informative

    This seems to be a derivation of a riddle given to my friend's math professor when he interviewed at the NSA...

    One person is appointed the leader. He always turns the cup upside down. Everyone else enters. If the cup is right side up, they leave it, if it upside down, they put it right side up, but only if they previously have not flipped the cup. So the only time the leader would flip the cup is if another prisoner had already been in the room.

    So how to deal with the fact that the King can flip the cup as well? Obviously its only an issue if the King flips the cup an odd number of times and then calls in the leader. Not sure how to get around this constraint, and the one that the King can hear them and thus foil the plan. But I'm off to bed, someone else can finish it.

  7. Re:Call me stupid but... on Proposed Federal Rules On E-Document Destruction · · Score: 1

    Call me sad but...

    I actually do have lots of WP 4.2 files...I also have the 5 1/4" floppies with the program files and a drive to read them! :-)

    I like the idea that I don't have to keep my 10,000+ *personal* emails that I've accumulated over the last 4-5 years. Imagine how bad it is for a business. My emails are adding up to 1GB now...

  8. Was Apple Right? on Is Blogging Journalism? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    See Professor Susan Crawford's piece on this on her blog where she argues the outcome (if not the reasoning) of the Judge's ruling was correct... http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/ 3/6/404732.html

  9. Re:What about law? on Best Degree to Pair w/ a B.Sc. in Computer Science? · · Score: 1

    Have to agree with you on that elysian. The CS background makes the logic part pretty simple. Not every CS degree can sit for the patent bar. Your school needs to have an approved program, if not you have to get it approved by the board (which I'm going to do). That involves sending in a transcript and course description.... Which law school are you in elysian? Send me an email and we can shmooze about the different courses and options. I'm also a 1L. ajsteine at yu dot edu

  10. Re:What about law? on Best Degree to Pair w/ a B.Sc. in Computer Science? · · Score: 1

    As someone with a BA in CS and currently in law school (first year) I can tell you the opportunities are plenty and its a roaring field...I plan on doing IP and am in one of the top IP schools in the country.

    feel free to contact me at ajsteine at yu dotedu if you have questions