Pirate Game. Very popular question.

[Mickey]

There are five rational pirates, A, B, C, D and E. They find 100 gold
coins. They must decide how to distribute them.
The pirates have a strict order of seniority: A is superior to B, who
is superior to C, who is superior to D, who is superior to E.

The pirate world's rules of distribution are thus: that the most
senior pirate should propose a distribution of coins. The pirates,
including the proposer, then vote on whether to accept this
distribution. If the proposed allocation is approved by a majority or
a tie vote, it happens. If not, the proposer is thrown overboard from
the pirate ship and dies, and the next most senior pirate makes a new
proposal to begin the system again.

Pirates base their decisions on three factors. First of all, each
pirate wants to survive. Secondly, each pirate wants to maximize the
number of gold coins he receives. Thirdly, each pirate would prefer to
throw another overboard, if all other results would otherwise be
equal.


Regards,
Jyoti

[Akhil Bhiwal]

One possible distribution:
A B C D E
33 33 33 1 0
Here, A is the most senior pirate. He along with B and C gets maximum
gold coins. D and E might vote against him but will be favored by B
and C so will not be thrown out of board.


Another possible distribution:
A B C D E
32 34 34 0 0
Here, B and C will not vote against A so he saves his position on the
board. But A does not get maximum no of gold coins.

[Mickey]

A can earn even more. So, I would say there is a better solution.

[siddharth agrawal]

how about this:

A  B  C  D  E

98 0   0  1  1

Regards,

Siddharth

[Mickey]

Looks okay kind of... let us review the rules of the pirates once
again (in order of priority):

"Pirates base their decisions on three factors. First of all, each
pirate wants to survive. Secondly, each pirate wants to maximize the
number of gold coins he receives. Thirdly, each pirate would prefer to
throw another overboard, if all other results would otherwise be
equal."

Why wouldn't B, C and D vote against A in the distribution of
98,0,0,1,1? .. keeping in mind the third condition above?

For others, here is how Siddharth is probably coming to the solution:
if all except D and E have been thrown overboard, D proposes 100 for
himself and 0 for E. He has the casting vote, and so this is the
allocation... His answer is nearly correct.

Regards,
Jyoti

On May 12, 12:03 pm, siddharth agrawal <4u.siddha...@gmail.com> wrote:
> how about this:
> A  B  C  D  E
> 98 0   0  1  1
>
> Regards,
> Siddharth
>

[Mickey]

The answer is
* A: 98 coins
* B: 0 coins
* C: 1 coin
* D: 0 coins
* E: 1 coin

Explanation is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_game