Student Puzzle Corner
Anirban DasGupta says this problem seems impossible at first sight, but thinks you will probably arrive at a solution quickly and it might surprise some of you that this is possible. This is the kind of thing statistics students used to learn routinely forty or fifty years ago. The problem…
Deadline: April 25, 2021
Puzzle Editor Anirban DasGupta proposes a palindrome problem in the domain of probabilistic number theory. It will take careful thinking and patience to work out the more difficult parts of this problem. I try to give you hints, as you move from one part to the…
The puzzle was this maximum likelihood estimation problem in a badminton game.
Student Puzzle Editor Anirban DasGupta explains the solution:
For part (a), writing q for p2 = cp, the likelihood function is
((1 − p)p4q4)(p4q3(1 − q))((1 − q))(q3p2(1 − p))(p5q4(1 − q))
= p29(1 − p)2(1 −…
Student Puzzle Editor Anirban DasGupta writes:
Our respondent Raimundo Julian Saona Urmeneta, who is a PhD student at the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria, has done a lovely and complete job of solving the previous puzzle. Congratulations to Raimundo. We are publishing his answer [below] as…
Deadline: February 1, 2021
Puzzle Editor Anirban DasGupta sets a problem on maximum likelihood estimation in a sports scenario.
Between two badminton players $A$ and $B$, player $B$ has a probability $p_1 = p$ of returning a serve or a shot from $A$, and $A$ has a probability $p2 =…