The n-Children Problem

Authors

John Engbers, Marquette UniversityFollow
Adam Hammett, Cedarville University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2019

Publisher

Mathematical Association of America

Source Publication

College Mathematics Journal

Source ISSN

0746-8342

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1080/07468342.2019.1632663

Abstract

In 1959, Martin Gardner posed the Two-Children Problem and provided its solution. He later corrected his solution due to the ambiguity involved in the procedure of obtaining the given information. In 2010, Gary Foshee posed a generalization of Gardner’s problem by involving a second condition beyond gender, namely the birth-day of the week. This article generalizes the Two-Children Problem to n children with m conditions, and gives a formula to compute this probability under one explicit procedure of obtaining the given information.

Comments

The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 50, No. 4 (September 2019): 242-249. DOI.

Recommended Citation

Engbers, John and Hammett, Adam, "The n-Children Problem" (2019). Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications. 132.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/math_fac/132