Friday, July 3, 2009

Disecting a Joke

One of the comedians said that since there is about 1 chance in 1,000 that someone will bring a bomb on an airplane, he decided to carry a bomb with him on every flight. He figured that the probability of two bombs on the plane are astronomical.

A great joke.
The question is, will bringing a bomb on a plane really lower your chances below 1 in 1,000? Why? Not counting the fact that you will probably get arrested and never board the plane.

4 comments:

Kalonni said...

Well, it's still a 1 in 1000 chance that another of the passengers will have a bomb. Maybe they have the same philosophy as the comedian, "If I have one, maybe no one else will..."

Maria said...

You are right - the chance of another bomb on the same plane will still be 1 in 1,000. But the explanation does not seem to be very convincing .. Another try anyone?

Kalonni said...

Here's an example of why the odds remain the same... Let's say you have 3 boxes. In two of the boxes there are presents and in one there is a rock. You would have a 1 in 3 chance of picking the rock. If you then remove one of the boxes, you would still have a 1 in 3 chance of picking a rock because there were originally 3 boxes from which to choose.

Maria said...

This looks convincing.
You are a real puzzle pro!

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