The importance of being (Error!)
 

To get started I'm going to pose a hypothetical.

Fred Astaire is always right. He never makes a mistake. If you give him a problem that he can solve, he will solve it correctly 100% of the time. But Fred can't handle differential equations. Starting somewhere around basic calculus, he just can't wrap his mind around the problem. Fred's a logical person, he's right where all of the common-sense stuff is concerned, and he's a great poker player.

Ginger Rogers makes mistakes. She makes lots of mistakes. In fact, in every problem she tries to solve, she has a 50% chance of [censored] up. What's 3+3? "7." What's the largest mammal? "The shrew." How many fingers am I holding up? "Erk - NaN." But Ginger can handle any kind of problem. She consistently scores 60 on the Putnam exam, and if she sets out to prove the Goldbach conjecture, she has a 50% chance of success. Yes, no matter what the problem is, Ginger has a 50% chance of solving it. Ginger is often seen as irrational due to her mistakes, and she frequently hemorrhages money in poker.

So, who's smarter?

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

madnak, Ginger of course. Everyone knows Ginger did everything Fred did in heels going backwards. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

Ginger is an impossibility.

It would take a parlay of many 50% error free steps (on 3+3 =7 type ones) for her to solve difficult problems.

D

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

I voted fred, since there's so much he is infallible on. If you increase Ginger's chance of success to 80% or something it gets harder for me.

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

I don't think its even close. Because Ginger never knows if she's right.

For Ginger to exist, she cannot be aware of her limitations.

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ginger is an impossibility.

It would take a parlay of many 50% error free steps (on 3+3 =7 type ones) for her to solve difficult problems.

D

[/ QUOTE ]

this is why i couldn't vote.

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

Ginger appears to be some sort of freakish idiot savant.

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ginger appears to be some sort of freakish idiot savant.

[/ QUOTE ]

ROFL [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

Fred is smarter because he's more likely to know his limitations on what problems he is qualified to weigh in on with certainty.

Re: The importance of being (Error!)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ginger is an impossibility.

It would take a parlay of many 50% error free steps (on 3+3 =7 type ones) for her to solve difficult problems.

D

[/ QUOTE ]

this is why i couldn't vote.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a hypothetical. Suspend this. How she solves the problems is irrelevant, it's the results that matter.