Subject: Probability
Name: Vanessa F.
Who is asking: Student
Level: Secondary

Question:
Okay, here's my question:

Duels in the town of Discretion are rarely fatal. There, each contestant comes at a random moment between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on the appointed day and leaves exactly 5 minutes later, honor served, unless his opponent arrives within the time interval and then they fight. What fraction of duels lead to violence?

There must be a minimum number of 100 trials and things like graphing calculator, dice, spinners, and whatever are allowed.

Please help!

Thank you.....

Hi Vanessa,

From the way this problem is worded I expect that you are to simulate the duels. To do so you need some device that will generate a random number between 0 and 60, the number of minutes between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. Generate two random numbers to simulate the arrival times of the two contestants. If the difference in arrival times is less than or equal to 5 minutes then voilence results, if not then the duel is decided without violence. Repeat the simulation at least 100 times and then the estimate of the fraction of duels that lead to violence by the proportion of your simulation trials that lead to violence.

Cheers,
Harley

 

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