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Re:How to choose? by nardi on Friday August 29, 2014 @04:51AM (#8241697)
Can you admit you were wrong yet? Unless the number of kids evenly divides 60, then some kids will have better odds than others. Just some small admission that the odds don't work out perfectly unless N is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, or 60.

Edit: For instance, if there are 59 kids, the first one has twice as good a chance to win as any of the others, because both 0 % 59 and 59 % 59 are 0. In other words, in the set derived from x % 59, for x in {0, 1, ..., 59}, 0 appears twice, and each other number in the range 0-59 only appears once.

Re:How to choose? by lutusp on Friday August 29, 2014 @05:59AM (#8241858)
> Can you admit you were wrong yet?

I never made the claim you're objecting to. The modulo operator minimizes the bias, it doesn't eliminate it. And it's the most efficient way to solve the problem.

My suggestion is that you stop thinking like a lawyer and start thinking like a scientist.

Re:How to choose? by glomph on Friday August 29, 2014 @07:31AM (#8242055)
But the solution you objected to is perfectly fair. How is yours more scientific?