Suppose someone offers to sell Hundred-dollar in an Auction under these conditions: Whoever offers the highest price, of course wins, second place proposal will pay the bid and left empty-handed. What will happen at the auction?
Many people told me that if I offered a hundred shekels at an auction I certainly lose money and therefore it does not make sense to do that. After all, why would intelligent person offer more than a hundred dollars for the hundred i like to sell? Surprise-Surprise, as in many cases in Game Theory your intuition is wrong, it turns out that because the rules of the game and its dynamics i can make real money in that auction.
Lets see what would YOU do in that auction, will you offer one dollar to try and win a hundred? of course, why wouldn't you? so you try to win and offer one dollar. Well, that is exactly what the man next to you think and he offers two dollars. Now, you are lossing, not just the hundred dollars but another dollar of your own because you come second place (see the Auction rulls again), at this point its better for you to raise to three dollars (and try to win 97$). The man next to you come to the idea you just had (he is second place now) and raise to four dollars. How does it ends?
The same way the game continues until one of you stand on 99$ and the other on 100$. Notice that at this point I'm not going to loose, I'm already earned 99$! 100$ offer plus 99$ for second place, but, hey ... i want more!
Lets say that the game stops here. One of you pays 100$ for my hundred and the other pays 99$ for nothing! If you where the later, will you offer 101$ ? if you do you will only loose one dollar (see why?), try to think what each of you will do next... hint: it doesnt change alot, and I will have more money.
The truth is that simply does not pay to play this game. That is what Game Theory tells us, if you see that kind of a game, stay away! you can't win! You can earn only if your competitor decides to quit under a hundred dollars and it is definitely high risk to take. All in all, these only one hundred dollars.
Try to think what would happen if the amount offered was a million dollars.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Brain Teasers & Thinking Games for Kids
What is more fun and satisfy than giving your child a great gift providing him not just a fun, enjoyable toy to play with but also a learning and developing tool.
Well, what does your child need?
Many tools exist to help develop their self-confidence, memory skills, improve spatial and visual perception, concentration and paying attention abilities, creativity and more.
So how to choose what they need and love at the same time?
The answer is to make their free time a quality time. Following the title “Learning is Fun”. Or more specifically; Brain Teasers and Thinking Games.
Playing computer games or watching TV are activities can be relaxing and fun but they are also limiting your child chances to understand logic and reason at an early age. As a parent, grandparent or an older brother who wishes to get closer to the kid and help him learn brain teasers and thinking games bring learning and enjoyment, another thing is that the kid feels not alone in doing an interesting-fun-learning activity.
So, what are they improving?
Lateral thinking puzzles and Riddles requires creativity and outside the box thinking.
How about Concentration and paying attention improving?
Solving brainteasers such as logic puzzles will help your general ability to recognize complex patterns and also improve your concentration. To have a clear thinking, opt for a brainteaser game that includes optical illusion, which will certainly help in concentration and they are such a fun to play indeed.
The outcome is curious kids who are ready to learn and explore new things. Kids with self confidence that feel they are smart will not be afraid to try or experiment new things that are important in their growing up years.
Give your child a gift.
Well, what does your child need?
Many tools exist to help develop their self-confidence, memory skills, improve spatial and visual perception, concentration and paying attention abilities, creativity and more.
So how to choose what they need and love at the same time?
The answer is to make their free time a quality time. Following the title “Learning is Fun”. Or more specifically; Brain Teasers and Thinking Games.
Playing computer games or watching TV are activities can be relaxing and fun but they are also limiting your child chances to understand logic and reason at an early age. As a parent, grandparent or an older brother who wishes to get closer to the kid and help him learn brain teasers and thinking games bring learning and enjoyment, another thing is that the kid feels not alone in doing an interesting-fun-learning activity.
Brain teasers are puzzles that require all the above characteristics to solve and those stimulating, sharpening and developing them. They force the brain to think outside the box and provide new solutions to a problem. Encouraging your child to play with puzzles develops their cognitive thinking skills and concentration skills. Brain teasers and thinking games for kids can come in many forms including puzzles, riddles, mazes and optical illusions. They are all cool since they are excellent learning and developing tool and they are not at all boring. |  |
So, what are they improving?
 | Disentanglement and Interlocking games will need concentration and paying attention to details, disentanglement puzzles solving require fair amount of spatial and visual perception and the ability to place 3D object in space, while interlocking, sometimes require few steps to release the first part, improving your ability to learn and deduce, plan in advance and be patient while moving. |
Lateral thinking puzzles and Riddles requires creativity and outside the box thinking.
Question
There are six eggs in the basket.
Six people each take one of the eggs.
How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?
There are six eggs in the basket.
Six people each take one of the eggs.
How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?
How about Concentration and paying attention improving?
Solving brainteasers such as logic puzzles will help your general ability to recognize complex patterns and also improve your concentration. To have a clear thinking, opt for a brainteaser game that includes optical illusion, which will certainly help in concentration and they are such a fun to play indeed.
Answer
The last person took the basket with
the last egg still inside.
The last person took the basket with
the last egg still inside.
The outcome is curious kids who are ready to learn and explore new things. Kids with self confidence that feel they are smart will not be afraid to try or experiment new things that are important in their growing up years.
Give your child a gift.
Cryptograms collection
In cryptography, a substitution cipher is a method of encryption by which units of plaintext are replaced with cipher text. This means that each letter used in the original text has been substituted with another (A becomes Z, B becomes Y, etc.). Letter and word positions, spaces and punctuation remain unchanged.
So, having the phrase:
If we would like to encrypt it using a substitution cipher say:
Alphabet : ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Ciphertext: DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
Here, A replaced with D, B with E and so on until Z that replaced with C. So the phrase above enciphers to:
Cryptograms have been used as a means of protecting sensitive information for thousands of years, one famous substitution cipher known as the Caesar Cipher (or The Shift Cipher) after its inventor the great Roman general and statesman.
Caesar cipher simply shifts the place of each letter with the letter x positions down the alphabet. The above cipher for example is a Caesar shift cipher of 3 (each letter replaced with the third letter ahead in the alphabet)
With our computing power today substitution ciphers become much less practical (especially at bottle field). Still, they live on in magazines and puzzle books as a popular form of brain exercise and become very important mind training and sharpening tool. Beside that they are fun (even social) game and of course challenging gift.
Cryptogram Solving
Start from the easy part in the text. Single-letter words are the easiest to recognize, mostly are A or I. Two-letter words are also easy because they are limited in number. Words such as: IS, AS, WE, US, IT, AN etc. Another possible start is to look for the common TH- words, i.e. THERE, THAT, THEN, THEY, THE, THEIR. These actions give you few letters to start with and you can continue by guessing other short words with the letters you already have, using trial and error or trying method B.
ETAOIN SHRDL – E, T, A … in that order are the twelve most frequently-used letters in the English language. The least common are J, X, Q, Z in that order. If you notice a certain letter being used again in again in any given cryptogram, at a frequency much higher than any other letter, it is a good bet that its unencrypted form will be one of the ETAOIN group.
Anyone who loves to flex their mental muscle challenge their code cracking abilities Decode funny quips and clever comments will find plenty of challenges in these cryptograms books that provides go-anywhere cranial crunches.
Each puzzle rated at least a smile and at most a belly laugh. For the novice, a clue is provided for each puzzle at the end of these books. There's a real reward doing these puzzles, I can assure you that besides getting a healthy workout for your mind, you will also find, at the end of each puzzle, a gratifying laugh, chuckle or smile.
So, having the phrase:
"Welcome to ciphers and cryptograms world"
If we would like to encrypt it using a substitution cipher say:
Alphabet : ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Ciphertext: DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
Here, A replaced with D, B with E and so on until Z that replaced with C. So the phrase above enciphers to:
ZHOFRPH WR FLSKHUV DQG FUBSWRJUDPV ZRUOG
Cryptograms have been used as a means of protecting sensitive information for thousands of years, one famous substitution cipher known as the Caesar Cipher (or The Shift Cipher) after its inventor the great Roman general and statesman.
Caesar cipher simply shifts the place of each letter with the letter x positions down the alphabet. The above cipher for example is a Caesar shift cipher of 3 (each letter replaced with the third letter ahead in the alphabet)
With our computing power today substitution ciphers become much less practical (especially at bottle field). Still, they live on in magazines and puzzle books as a popular form of brain exercise and become very important mind training and sharpening tool. Beside that they are fun (even social) game and of course challenging gift.
Cryptogram Solving
Method A: Pattern recognition.
Start from the easy part in the text. Single-letter words are the easiest to recognize, mostly are A or I. Two-letter words are also easy because they are limited in number. Words such as: IS, AS, WE, US, IT, AN etc. Another possible start is to look for the common TH- words, i.e. THERE, THAT, THEN, THEY, THE, THEIR. These actions give you few letters to start with and you can continue by guessing other short words with the letters you already have, using trial and error or trying method B.
Method B: Letter frequency. (For Advanced)
ETAOIN SHRDL – E, T, A … in that order are the twelve most frequently-used letters in the English language. The least common are J, X, Q, Z in that order. If you notice a certain letter being used again in again in any given cryptogram, at a frequency much higher than any other letter, it is a good bet that its unencrypted form will be one of the ETAOIN group.
Anyone who loves to flex their mental muscle challenge their code cracking abilities Decode funny quips and clever comments will find plenty of challenges in these cryptograms books that provides go-anywhere cranial crunches.
Each puzzle rated at least a smile and at most a belly laugh. For the novice, a clue is provided for each puzzle at the end of these books. There's a real reward doing these puzzles, I can assure you that besides getting a healthy workout for your mind, you will also find, at the end of each puzzle, a gratifying laugh, chuckle or smile.
Da Vinci Code and the Mini Cryptex
They where sitting in a restaurant, when he placed a small
wooden box and a cryptex on the table and told her that the
key to the box is inside the cryptex. It was in the midst of a
magical weekend at some French Riviera they where used
to go to once a year. She easily guessed the combination
"I Love You", opened the cryptex and use the key inside to
reveal her engagement ring and her new life.
wooden box and a cryptex on the table and told her that the
key to the box is inside the cryptex. It was in the midst of a
magical weekend at some French Riviera they where used
to go to once a year. She easily guessed the combination
"I Love You", opened the cryptex and use the key inside to
reveal her engagement ring and her new life.
A cryptex is a kind of lock with a special key or a password that holds a message in.It been said that Leonardo de Vinci invented that kind of secret communication form. It has one letters combination that unlocks it known only for the sender and the addressee. That way, two or more people that agree on a certain combination can communicate or transfer small items secretly.
Cryptex itself can be special and unique gift usually tend to hide in it something that exposes the biggest thing with a key or a direction letter. The Cryptex letter combination can be reset easily those becoming more interesting. One can set the letters to be the solution of the puzzle as Dan Brown uses it in his book "Da Vinci Code", it can simply be "Happy Birthday" or "Regards". |  |
Being unique, legendary and mystery, a Cryptex is a great gift for any age or event. The recipient does not have to be related to the world of codes and puzzles; sometimes that kind of gift opens a new world to him, new interesting purview, new perspective So you actually are giving another bigger gift without his knowledge.
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