23 June 2014

Nontransitive Dice

A probability puzzle, from TAoCP.

Look at these two dice.

The first one is a normal dice, the second one is a cheat's dice. Clearly, the cheat's dice is better. In a contest, chances are 5/6 that the cheat wins, and 1/6 that there is a draw.

Let's say that dice A is better than dice B when A is expected to win over B in more than half the contests.

Question. Is it possible to find dice AB, and C such that A is better than B, which is better than C, which is better than A?

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