Posted on 05/02/2014 4:09:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The question of how to win at Rock-Paper-Scissors has, believe it or not, plagued mathematicians and game theorists for quite some time. While they previously had devised a theoretical answer to the question, a new experiment by Zhijian Wang at Zhejiang University in China that used real players, has revealed an interesting wrinkle to the original theory.
In the experiment, Zhijian noticed that winning players tended to stick with their winning strategy, while losers tended to switch to the next strategy in the sequence of rock-paper-scissors, following, what he calls, “persistent cyclic flows.”
Here's how it works in practice: Player A and Player B both start by using random strategies. If Player A uses rock and Player B uses paper, Player A loses. In the next round, Player A can assume that Player B will use paper again and should therefore use scissors to win. In the round after that, because Player B lost, Player A can assume that Player B will use the next strategy in the sequence — scissors — and Player A should then use rock, thus winning again.
If you take the game on a theoretical level, the most mathematically sound way to play Rock-Paper-Scissors is by choosing your strategy at random. Because there are three outcomes — a win, a loss, or a tie — and each strategy has one other strategy that it can beat and one other strategy that can beat it, and we don’t care what strategy we win with, it makes the most sense to pick paper exactly 1/3 of the time, rock 1/3 of the time, and scissors 1/3 of the time. This is called the game's Nash equilibrium.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
What about rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock?
Chinese mathematician vs. Japanese robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxjjztQKtY
(Actually, it isn’t a Chinese mathematician on the left, but it might as well be.)
This is Hugh and Series, why isn’t it in Breaking news?
No mathematician would trouble themselves with this foolishness for even a second.
.
I think Kramer figured it out before that: Rock beats everything.
In other words its impossible to do anything randomly because there is no such thing.
Most players choose rock for their opening hand, because since it represents a fist, it projects a powerful image.
Paper, in fact, is the most powerful and underappreciated weapon in the game.
Touché!
What happens if he plays a round with another chap using the same formula ?
This is very serious stuff, it might win wars.
Rock flys right thru paper
If you read the article cogently, they are saying that there is no system to win.
Consistency is the only way to keep it even 50/50.
They both win.
So THIS is what the Chinese are doing with all our money!
Worthless research and easy jobs for so-called scientists, well, they learned it from the best...us.
I’ve never really played that game and can’t say that I really understand it. Is there some sort of hierarchy as far as what you can begin with, or is it whatever you decide to go with? Are there further “rounds” in the same game or is it like flipping a coin?
Yeah. Pretty funny watching Mickey and Kramer playing rock vs. rock.
Depending on the stakes, I prefer “Rock - Paper - Scissor - Glock”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.