e-Nagar

July 20, 2010

Teen Patti flaws

Filed under: Puzzle, questions — Ankur Aggarwal @ 10:07 pm

For those who have played this famous card game (on which a movie starring Amitabh Bacchan was recently made) would realize that the ranking of the hand (3 cards dealt to the player) would be as follows.

Hand Frequency Probability Odds
Three of a Kind 52 0.24% 424.00:1
Straight Flush/Pure Sequence/Pure Trail 48 0.22% 459.42:1
Straight/Sequence/Trail 720 3.26% 29.69:1
Flush/Color 1096 4.96% 19.16:1
Pair 3744 16.94% 4.90:1
No Pair/High Card 16440 74.39% 0.34:1
Total 22100 100.00% 0.00:1

When there is a tie, then the person owning the highest value card wins. If there is still a tie (in case of the color) then one owning the lowest value card loses. For the ultimate tie breaker, the sequence of the card suits: spade, heart, diamond, and club in descending order of rank is used.

The fact that 3 of a kind are ranked higher than a Pure Sequence is a serious flaw in the game. As we can see from the table, pure sequence has a lower probability, hence should be considered as a superior hand.

To sum up a quote from the Vedas:

Without any fault of hers I have driven my devoted wife away because of a die exceeding by one [an unsuccessful bet]. My mother-in-law hates me; my wife pushes me away. In his defeat the gambler finds none to pity him. No one has use for a gambler, like an aged horse put up for sale

February 16, 2010

Where is my Moral compass pointing?

Filed under: Puzzle, Thoughts — Ankur Aggarwal @ 1:23 pm

A year ago I swiped my credit card at a small store for 3500/- purchase. Unfortunately the cashier forgot to add 2 zeros for paise hence billing me for only 1% of the purchase value. Even though this was not due to any fault or malicious action on my part, I felt guilty and sorry for the shop owner. I imagined myself as one of the shoplifters or swindlers and saw to it that the error was rectified.

However 2 months ago a friend of mine used my credit card to purchase a digital camera from an online corporate store for 28000/- and due to some billing problem my credit card was not charged for the shipment. Unlike the previous case, correcting this glitch won’t involve any financial cost for me. On the contrary, it would have helped me retain my moral high ground. Yet through my inaction I defrauded my online store, but what is worse is that I had no qualms about it.

There could be several plausible explanations for it:
1. 28000/- might be too tempting an amount for me. However I personally did not benefit from this transaction.
2. Paying back in own coin. However I never felt that this particular store or bank had cheated me in the past and have no grudge against them.
3. I remembered what my mentor had once said… During the 18th century the pious, just and gentlemen could commit genocide and atrocities against the black slaves and yet never regret it. This was because of the simple fact that these whites did not empathize with the blacks. To them they were no more than some exotic creatures that bore close resemblance to humans. (In no way I am endorsing this thought) There is a possibility that I sympathized with the small store owner but not with the corporate.

I am having this strange feeling because I am worried not because I did wrong but because why I did what I did.

April 27, 2008

password

Filed under: Puzzle — Ankur Aggarwal @ 6:04 pm

A man wanted to get into his work building, but he had forgotten his code. However, he did remember five clues. These are what those clues were:

“The fifth number plus the third number equals fourteen.
The fourth number is one more than the second number.
The first number is one less than twice the second number.
The second number plus the third number equals ten.
The sum of all five numbers is 30. What were the five numbers and in what order?”

can you guess it?

March 27, 2008

Water Share

Filed under: Puzzle — Ankur Aggarwal @ 3:21 pm

You are given 3 jugs of water
X, an empty jug with a capacity of 19L
Y, a 13L jug filled with water
Z, a 7L jug filled with water.

Through pouring and without using any additional tools/containers you have to give me 2 jugs with 10L each. Can you help me?
To practice, there is a nice xls sheet with animation to give you company.

Solution:
(more…)

February 12, 2008

Boat Crossing

Filed under: Puzzle — Ankur Aggarwal @ 2:03 pm

There are 2 boys, 2 girls, a mom, a dad, a convict and a Police officer on this side of the river.
Instructions:

  • Help these people to cross the river, in the next screen.
  • Only two people can use the boat at a time, at least one adult.
  • Criminal (in striped dress) cannot be left with others, without the Police.
  • Mother cannot be with sons, while father is not around.
  • Father cannot be with daughters, while mother is not around.
  • Click on the BIG BLUE BUTTON to start!
  • Click on people to get them on or off the boat.
  • Click on the Red buttons to move the boat to opposite side.

To play the game go to the link and press the big blue button.

Clue:
(more…)

August 13, 2007

indian Independence quiz

Filed under: Puzzle — Ankur Aggarwal @ 9:09 pm

1. When mutinies against British rule broke out in northern India in 1857, the Bengal Army, composed of Indian soldiers under British command, had 139,000 soldiers. How many sided with Britain, and how many with the mutineers?
78,000 for Britain; 61,000 for the mutineers
7,800 for Britain; 131,200 for the mutineers
110,000 for Britain; 29,000 for the mutineers
23 for Britain; 138,977 for the mutineers

2. In 1901 India’s population was 300m. How many Britons lived in India and ruled over them?
1.2m
239,000
154,000
28,900

3. Mohandas Gandhi is more commonly known by the honorific “Mahatma”, which means what?
“National father”
“Spiritual leader”
“Great soul”
“Child of God”

4. What was Gandhi holding on March 12th 1930 when he announced to a crowd, “With this _____ I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire”?
A policeman’s collar
A document pronouncing India’s independence
A handful of salt
A length of spun cotton

5. What did Gandhi say “accentuate[s] the evil nature of man” and lets “bad men fulfil their designs with greater rapidity”?
Trains
Wristwatches
Assembly lines
Shoes

6. Which of these most accurately describes Mahatma Gandhi’s murderer?
He was a Muslim who believed he was waging a “holy war” against Hindu occupation
He was a spurned political rival
He was a Hindu enraged by the creation of Pakistan
He was a Sikh enraged that the partition of India created separate Hindu and Muslim countries, but denied self-rule to the Sikhs

7. About how many people were uprooted during the sectarian violence that broke out during the partition of British India into independent India and Pakistan in 1947?
500,000
2m
5m
12m

8. How did Kashmir, with its predominantly Muslim population, come to have a Hindu ruler at the time of partition?
The British hastily installed a puppet maharajah as they were leaving
The same family ruled Kashmir for a millennium; they resisted the spread of Islam and remained Hindu
The British had awarded the state to a Hindu soldier 50 years earlier
The British had sold the state to a Hindu maharajah 100 years earlier

9. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, wrote that religion:
“Is, as a Russian said, the opiate of the masses”
“Waters the rich and loamy soil of our Mother India”
“Has not only broken our backs but stifled and almost killed all originality of thought or mind”
“Thrives in our beloved India as nowhere else on Earth, and without it we would be immeasurably poorer”

10. In a letter to his wife from a colonial jail, Nehru wrote that he saw himself as:
“A traveller, limping along in the dark night”
“A warrior of the spirit, bound to call our nation to greatness”
“An attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two”
“One fated to make a lasting mark”

11. What happened on April 7th 2005 for the first time since the partition of India and Pakistan?
Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire across the Siachen glacier in Kashmir
A passenger bus drove between the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir and the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir
A gate at the Kashmiri border was left open all night
England won a test match against India

12. Rahul Gandhi, a young MP, is sometimes rumoured to be a possible candidate for prime minister. Which of his blood relations did not hold that office?
His great-grandfather
His grandfather
His father
His grandmother

-source
Its hard to believe that an american periodical (with an predominantly american audience will publish this)
I got 8 correct what about u?

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