Post #118663 by freddiefreelance on Fri, Oct 8, 2004 9:25 AM

It's also a famous probability problem in math. Called "The Monty Hall Problem," it states that you have a choice of 3 doors, one has a "New Car!" behind it and the other two have goats. You choose Door #1. Monty opens door number 3, shows you that there's a goat eating hay behind it & asks if you want to change your mind.

The probability problem has 3 questions:

1. Does it matter if you change your mind?
2. What is the probabilty of winning if your remain with door number one?
3. What is the probability of winning if your change your mind to door number two?

The answers are:

1. Yes.
2. One in three (obvious, since you pick one door out of three).
3. Here's the tricky part, the answer to question three is two out of three because the probabilities must total one! If you switch your choice to door number 2 you have better odds of getting the car than if you stick with door number one.

Get out your graphing calculators & look here for all the clues. There will be a test later.

My favorite Zonks were when the contestant would win something goofy like a goat in a trailer, then Jay would announce "...and to help you get your goat home, you can hitch him up to... Your new GMC Suburban!" Or the door opens & the models are lounging around a kiddie pool and Jay would announce "...while you're enjoying your new pool, you may want to sit on... your new patio set!" and they would wheel out an oversized glass picnic table with six chairs, 2 loungers, a side table, a bar with 4 stools, a grill and a mini fridge.