• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:56
CEST 13:56
KST 20:56
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists14[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy21
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers11Maestros of the Game 2 announced32026 GSL Tour plans announced11Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid22
StarCraft 2
General
MaNa leaves Team Liquid 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding 2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) SEL Doubles (SC Evo Bimonthly)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 520 Moving Fees Mutation # 519 Inner Power
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Gypsy to Korea Pros React To: Tulbo in Ro.16 Group A Data needed
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro16 Group A [ASL21] Ro16 Group B
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend? Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Reappraising The Situation T…
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2122 users

Rapists math problem - Page 2

Blogs > jtan
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
jtan
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Sweden5891 Posts
February 19 2008 19:35 GMT
#21
Correct~~!

But using that formula asta posted is almost cheating-.,-

Also, the formula doesn't at all require large n since the taylor expansion for 1/e converges amazingly fast. In the problem I said "a large number of rapists". You get 2 correct decimals already at n=5, and with n=20 you get 18 correct decimals.
Enter a Uh
FirstBorn
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
Romania3955 Posts
February 19 2008 21:27 GMT
#22
On February 20 2008 04:25 Cascade wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 20 2008 02:52 clazziquai wrote:
On February 20 2008 02:42 Cascade wrote:
Solution.

+ Show Spoiler +
Let n be the number of rapists. That random guy can relabel the samples in n! different ways. n choices for where to put hte first label, n-1 for the second label, etc.

-----------------flawed------------
In how many ways can he label them such that he doesnt place the right name on any sample?
For the first label, he has n-1 alternatives. Lets say he places the first label on sample number i. Then the label i can go n-1 samples still, since the only one occupied is his own. So label i goes on sample j. Label j now can go n-2 samples, since i is occupied, and j is both occupied and forbidden. etc. Total number of possible "all innocent" labelings becomes
------------------flawed------------

(n-1)(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)...3*2*1 = n! / n <-- wrong

Now we see that the number of "all innocent" labelings is 1/n times as many as the total number of labels from which we can say that the probability of all the rapists going free is 1/n. Seems to fit with brute force for n=2 and n=3.


EDIT: found a flaw. And a misscalcualtion. sorry, just disregard.


You sound so smart lol. Didn't you solve another really hard math problem earlier? >_>

Is this statistics?


haha, thanks I guess. I've been posting in a few other threads like these yes...


What he means is that he solved all the problems in threads like these.
SonuvBob: Yes, the majority of TL is college-aged, and thus clearly stupid.
gwho
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United States632 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-02-19 21:33:30
February 19 2008 21:30 GMT
#23
+ Show Spoiler +
0%, because now his fingerprints are all over the samples. they probably set up "connections" for every suspect. and anyone innocent wouldn't touch them.

too easy.

one giveaway is the fact that it's a "large number" of rapists. you should give a number of rapists like 100 or something.
jtan
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Sweden5891 Posts
February 19 2008 22:21 GMT
#24
........

The fact that the actual number of rapists doesn't matter is what makes it interesting -_-
Enter a Uh
Slithe
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States985 Posts
February 19 2008 22:31 GMT
#25
It makes me happy to see that my blog has inspired other people to post up cool math problems. We should create a TL math ring :D
thoraxe
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
United States1449 Posts
February 19 2008 23:55 GMT
#26
man this is waaaaaaay harder than what i thought. I hate these theoretical probablility problems.
Obama singing "Kick Ass" Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yghFBt-fXmw&feature=player_embedde
imDerek
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States1944 Posts
February 20 2008 02:24 GMT
#27
this is called derangement
Least favorite progamers: Leta, Zero, Mind, Shine, free, really <-- newly added
dinmsab
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Malaysia2246 Posts
February 21 2008 11:54 GMT
#28
Last time it was prisoners, now its rapist...

I like using prisoners moar.
..
jtan
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Sweden5891 Posts
February 23 2008 17:16 GMT
#29
On February 21 2008 20:54 dinmsab wrote:
Last time it was prisoners, now its rapist...

I like using prisoners moar.

haha, next time slithe and I will construct a prison rape math problem!
Enter a Uh
jtan
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Sweden5891 Posts
February 23 2008 18:09 GMT
#30
And yeah by request, here is a complete solution, pretty carefully explained. If you are not really into math but would like to know a little-> hit the spoiler buttons!


Ok, let's say there are n rapists, although this won't really matter.

The blood samples are can be labeled in N0:=n! ways.

In how many of these cases does atleast 1 label get the right bloodsample?

N1:=n*(n-1)! = n!

+ Show Spoiler +
first pick 1 of the rapists. Can do that in n ways, Say he got connected with his own bloodsample. Then randomly map the others names into samples in (n-1)! ways


And more generally. In how many cases does atleast i rapists get connected with the right sample?

Ni:=(n over i)*(n-i)!=n!/i!

+ Show Spoiler +
choosing first i from the rapists and giving them the right sample connection. Then randomly distributing the others. So this is the number of ways that could be done.


Now simply by the principle of inclusion/exclusion, N:=number of ways that nobody is connected with his own sample is:

N=N0-N1+N2-N3+...(-1)^i*Ni+...Nn

+ Show Spoiler +
This might be hard to grasp if you havn't seen it before, but it's a fun concept so I'll explain it briefly.

There are totally N0 ways. But then we counted too many, so we remove those cases where 1 guy (or more) got the right sample -> -N1. But then we counted too too few, because we took away some cases twice or more. So we have to add N2 and so on. Well might still be hard to see. Let's have a quick example.
+ Show Spoiler [example] +

25 people on tl.net:
12 plays starcraft
8 plays wc3
9 plays wow

4 plays sc and wc3
3 plays wc3 and wow
3 plays sc and wow

1 plays sc wc3 and wow

So of the 25, how many doesn't play?
One way of calculating this would be 25-(12+8+9)+(4+3+3)-1=5

Simple to understand if you think about it. Or draw venn diagrams.



Ok, if you convinced yourself, let's draw calculate the probability in the original question. p:=probability that no rapist is matched with his own sample=

N/N0=N/n!=1-1+1/2!-1/3!+1/4!-...+(-1)^n *1/n!

If you had kept going forever without stopping at the n:th term you have the taylor expansion for e^-1 exactly.

+ Show Spoiler +
In case you are not familiar with taylor expansions, this is a way to express (almost) any function as a infinite polynomial. This is done by constructing the polynomial so that it's function value and all power-derivatives have the same value for some point.
Taylor expansion for e can be calculated to

e^x=1+x/1!+x^2/2!+...+x^i/i!+...

using the point zero.

(wiki for taylor expansion)

Now take x=-1 to get the exact formula we were stuck with above!


so p=~1/e. The more terms we have in the expansion the closer we will get. Since the sum is alternating with decreasing terms it's simple to show that error=|p-1/x|<1/(n+1)!

So 20 rapists would give a smaller error from 1/e than 1/21!=extremy little.


Wow, this looks a lot more complex then it really is, hope I don't scare away some hs students from math If you take math at university it all comes step by step, and it's not really hard at all.

Cheers!
Enter a Uh
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
11:00
Group D
WardiTV545
TKL 181
IndyStarCraft 167
Rex80
3DClanTV 39
Liquipedia
Sparkling Tuna Cup
10:00
Weekly #128 (TLMC 22 Edition)
herO vs YoungYakovLIVE!
Classic vs ByuNLIVE!
TBD vs Percival
CranKy Ducklings165
herO (SOOP)37
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
TKL 181
IndyStarCraft 167
Rex 80
MindelVK 37
herO (SOOP) 37
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 28675
Calm 5174
Horang2 1499
ToSsGirL 692
EffOrt 594
NaDa 577
Mini 258
BeSt 226
firebathero 217
Zeus 213
[ Show more ]
Killer 187
Last 177
ggaemo 157
Hyun 117
Rush 110
PianO 99
Soulkey 85
Mind 71
sSak 67
Pusan 55
Sharp 43
[sc1f]eonzerg 41
sorry 36
yabsab 26
Sea.KH 24
Shinee 23
Hm[arnc] 22
Movie 19
soO 19
Noble 17
SilentControl 17
IntoTheRainbow 14
hero 12
Dota 2
Gorgc4267
XaKoH 649
Counter-Strike
zeus1305
x6flipin455
edward171
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King120
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor271
Other Games
singsing1694
B2W.Neo1627
DeMusliM301
Pyrionflax170
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream12813
PGL Dota 2 - Secondary Stream1986
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Adnapsc2 20
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP5
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 17
• FirePhoenix3
• STPLYoutube
• BSLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos2308
• TFBlade1003
Upcoming Events
Ladder Legends
3h 4m
IPSL
4h 4m
JDConan vs TBD
Aegong vs rasowy
BSL
7h 4m
StRyKeR vs rasowy
Artosis vs Aether
JDConan vs OyAji
Hawk vs izu
CranKy Ducklings
12h 4m
Replay Cast
21h 4m
Wardi Open
22h 4m
Afreeca Starleague
22h 4m
Bisu vs Ample
Jaedong vs Flash
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 4h
RSL Revival
1d 14h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 22h
Barracks vs Leta
Royal vs Light
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
1d 23h
RSL Revival
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
KCM Race Survival
3 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Escore
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
5 days
Ladder Legends
6 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
BSL
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W3
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W4
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.