What are the odds?

C

Camper6

Well-known Member
Location
Northwestern Ontario Canada
Do you believe there is a 50-50 chance of doing something right?

For instance. If you have a lock and you can insert the key but only one way is correct to open it.

Why is it that you will insert it the wrong way when you have a 50-50 chance of doing it correctly.

There are other examples.

For instance I bought blank labels to print out.

If you don't look carefully you can't tell which is the correct side to put in the printer.

So why if you put the labels in the printer without looking do they get printed on the wrong side.

There are other examples too numerous to mention.

By the way if you are going to print labels don't use a printer that wraps the paper around the roller to print out. If you get a label stuck in there it's a real chore to get out.
 

reminds me of a poster I made in another life;

dVbIt9o.jpg
 
[h=1]“If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?” - Steven Wright[/h]
 

Interesting question, Camper.

About the key in the lock, I do believe that all things being equal, there really is a 50-50 chance of getting it right. We probably just don't pay any attention to it when we do get it right, so the "wrong" times
stick out in our mind.

However, there could be something in the design of the key that encourages us to put it in the lock the wrong way.

About the labels, same thing. If we are really putting them in the printer the wrong way more often, there could be something in the design of the label sheets that encourages us to do that. Maybe it curves
in a certain direction?

Sometimes I get the feeling that I always seem to arrive at the traffic lights just as they're about to turn red. (Except I don't. I just brush off the "green" times as being of no importance, as I go sailing through.) ;)
 
Sunny said:
Interesting question, Camper.

About the key in the lock, I do believe that all things being equal, there really is a 50-50 chance of getting it right. We probably just don't pay any attention to it when we do get it right, so the "wrong" times
stick out in our mind.

However, there could be something in the design of the key that encourages us to put it in the lock the wrong way.

About the labels, same thing. If we are really putting them in the printer the wrong way more often, there could be something in the design of the label sheets that encourages us to do that. Maybe it curves
in a certain direction?

Sometimes I get the feeling that I always seem to arrive at the traffic lights just as they're about to turn red. (Except I don't. I just brush off the "green" times as being of no importance, as I go sailing through.) ;)
Click to expand...

I believe one of the cars I had, had a laser beam that would turn the light red as I was approaching.

So fifty fifty chance? I don't believe those odds. It's much easier to mess stuff up than to get it right.
 
situational when it comes to 50/50 choices, except for trick questions wives ask. How does my hair look or do I look fat in? If being honest counts there is never a good answer so 50/50 doesn't apply.
 
50/50 for oneself, or 50/50 statistically? Some people just have bad luck so one really can't judge 50/50 in general for oneself. And then there's folks who just make wrong decisions and call it bad luck.
 
Olivia said:
50/50 for oneself, or 50/50 statistically? Some people just have bad luck so one really can't judge 50/50 in general for oneself. And then there's folks who just make wrong decisions and call it bad luck.
Click to expand...

O.K. So if you flip a coin and always call heads will heads come up exactly on a 50-50 basis.

Well maybe. But give it a try. In ten flips I doubt you would get heads predominantly. Maybe on a thousand flips it might be close but I doubt it would ever come out 50-50.

Now if you butter a piece of toast and put peanut butter on it and dropped it would it land on the floor peanut butter up or peanut butter down.

But see that test would be statistically in favor of the peanut butter down side because it is heavier on that side.
 
I can relate to all of the above. Then there is that condition I have I call "reverse magnetism". All I have to do is start to reach for something & it falls on the floor or spills or whatever.
 
Camper6 said:
O.K. So if you flip a coin and always call heads will heads come up exactly on a 50-50 basis.

Well maybe. But give it a try. In ten flips I doubt you would get heads predominantly. Maybe on a thousand flips it might be close but I doubt it would ever come out 50-50.

Now if you butter a piece of toast and put peanut butter on it and dropped it would it land on the floor peanut butter up or peanut butter down.

But see that test would be statistically in favor of the peanut butter down side because it is heavier on that side.
Click to expand...

The question then becomes do you apply the 5 second rule to eating the peanut butter bread that fell or opt for taking a chance you won't drop the second slice? Would that qualify for 50/50 chance you won't drop it?
 
Knight said:
The question then becomes do you apply the 5 second rule to eating the peanut butter bread that fell or opt for taking a chance you won't drop the second slice? Would that qualify for 50/50 chance you won't drop it?
Click to expand...

We used to have a 10 second rule. Now after reading up on it I won't eat anything that drops on the floor unless I can wash it first.

The odds are greater than 50-50 that there will be germs on it.
 
when a baby is delivered is there a 50-50 chance of it being dropped on it's back or stomach? and what's the chance it will cause a reaction anyway - like a burp or a scream?
 
Mini-blind strings -- no matter which one I pull first, it's not the right one. If I think I can outsmart it by pulling the other one first, it's still not the right one.
This test is repeatable. I've done it (at different times, to keep it truly random).
Feels like 100%, but I know it's a 50-50 outcome in a binary choice. Added a color to the right one, to save nano-seconds.
Yours truly, the nerd brain... :p:rolleyes:
If only all of life's problems were this tiny :D
 

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