Thread: Pick a number from one to ten

Have you ever chosen to see who goes first or who wins this way?

If not I will explain:

The judge says to the two contestants, "I am thinking of a number between one and ten. Whoever guesses closest to my number wins."

So the first contestant guesses, let's say that he guesses "3".

Now it is the second contestants turn to guess. If the number that the judge has in mind is three or less then any guess that is above three will be a losing guess. If the number that the judge has in mind is above three then 4 is the best choice as it will always beat the first contestants guess whereas 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 might not.

The rule of thumb for the second contestant is to always pick a number that is right next to the first contestants number and is closer to the greatest number of possible answers.

If the first contestant says 1 then the second contestant should say 2.

If the first contestant says 2 then the second contestant should say 3.

If the first contestant says 3 then the second contestant should say 4.

If the first contestant says 4 then the second contestant should say 5.

If the first contestant says 5 then the second contestant has an even chance of beating it.

If the first contestant says 6 then the second contestant should say 5.

If the first contestant says 7 then the second contestant should say 6.

If the first contestant says 8 then the second contestant should say 7.

If the first contestant says 9 then the second contestant should say 8.

If the first contestant says 10 then the second contestant should say 9.


OK so how, you say, does this relate to elections? Before you go on - on a scale from one to ten, with 1 being the most liberal and ten being the most conservative, what is your number?

Our two presidential candidates are the contestants and each one of us as a voter is the judge. Our contestants have chosen their numbers. Barack Obama has chosen as his number "1." He is the most liberal senator in congress, he is virtually as far left as one can be. Senator McCain has chosen his number too. He is one of the most liberal members of the GOP. Not as far left as Obama but certainly not a 10 either. He is more like a 3.

So if you as the judge want very liberal country, if you want a 1 then Obama is your man. He is the closest to your number. If you want a 2 then either Obama or McCain will represent you well. If on the other hand you want a representative who reflects your desire for our country to be a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 then McCain is closest to what you want.

I always pick 5 to be safe.

I pick 3.14

Interesting point. I remember Mike Gravel saying that to win one of his ellection way-back-when he just needed to become slightly more conservative then the person that he was running against to win. and it worked.

But people should also remember that if someone is a 7 and McCain is a 3, then they may not want to vote for him because of the huge number difference. I mean, if a 7 would vote for a 3 then the 3 has no reason to ever increase its number.

Originally Posted by lakeman

So if you as the judge want very liberal country, if you want a 1 then Obama is your man. He is the closest to your number. If you want a 2 then either Obama or McCain will represent you well. If on the other hand you want a representative who reflects your desire for our country to be a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 then McCain is closest to what you want.

Swap the name Obama for McCain and "liberal" for "conservative" and the argument works as well in reverse, so what is your point?

Originally Posted by Latherty

Swap the name Obama for McCain and "liberal" for "conservative" and the argument works as well in reverse, so what is your point?

My guess is that his point is that he knows how to copy paste email forwards.

Originally Posted by Ronin Tetsuro

My guess is that his point is that he knows how to copy paste email forwards.

Well spotted

Originally Posted by dbelkau

Well spotted

Actually I made that up all on my own.

Originally Posted by Latherty

Swap the name Obama for McCain and "liberal" for "conservative" and the argument works as well in reverse, so what is your point?

Let's find out:

"So if you as the judge want very conservative country, if you want a 1 then MCain is your man. He is the closest to your number. If you want a 2 then either McCain or Obama will represent you well. If on the other hand you want a representative who reflects your desire for our country to be a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 then Obama is closest to what you want."

Hmmm? No that doesn't work and is illogical because a conservative would not want a 1 on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being most Liberal. It is additionally illogical since Obama is still not closer to a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10. The whole paragraph becomes illogical.

Let's switch the scale around too since you may have meant that as well.

"So if you as the judge want very conservative country, if you want a 10 then MCain is your man. He is the closest to your number. If you want a 9 then either McCain or Obama will represent you well. If on the other hand you want a representative who reflects your desire for our country to be a 10 or 9 or 8 or 7 or 6 or 5 or 3 then Obama is closest to what you want."

Nope that doesn't work either since it would be false to say that McCain or Obama would represent a 10 equally well nor would it be true that Obama would be closer to a 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3.

No matter how you mix the words around a anyone who is less liberal than Obama will never be served better by Obama than they would by McCain.

i always pick heads. ALWAYS.