20Qs Game 510

[miminena]

don't use all 20 questions at once :3

[Aristocrat]

don't use all 20 questions at once :3

This made me think whether people could come up with a set of non-conditional questions that would let you identify any 20 questions candidate without knowing any information (i.e., you ask all 20 questions right at the beginning, QM answers them all, and you get 5 guesses to figure out the person).

I think it would be possible and probably not super difficult

[DreamTrawler]

don't use all 20 questions at once :3

This made me think whether people could come up with a set of non-conditional questions that would let you identify any 20 questions candidate without knowing any information (i.e., you ask all 20 questions right at the beginning, QM answers them all, and you get 5 guesses to figure out the person).

I think it would be possible and probably not super difficult

It could be funny to try that one round. I don't know what the perfect set of questions would be since stuff like location, date of birth usually takes multiple to shave down. I guess we could all ask questions that allow for multiple possibilities and shave it down from there. But also the kinds of questions that are asked for real humans vs fictional characters are usually quite different.

[Spartaculous]

don't use all 20 questions at once :3

This made me think whether people could come up with a set of non-conditional questions that would let you identify any 20 questions candidate without knowing any information (i.e., you ask all 20 questions right at the beginning, QM answers them all, and you get 5 guesses to figure out the person).

I think it would be possible and probably not super difficult

Here is a crude approach.

Q1) Is this a real human being with a known birthdate after 589 AD?
If yes:
Q2-Q20) Determine the exact birthdate using binary searching. (2^19 / 365 approx. = 1436, 589+1436=2025)

So at this point, you know that the person was born on, say, December 13, 1989, and you just have to figure out who it is in five guesses.

[miminena]

don't use all 20 questions at once :3

This made me think whether people could come up with a set of non-conditional questions that would let you identify any 20 questions candidate without knowing any information (i.e., you ask all 20 questions right at the beginning, QM answers them all, and you get 5 guesses to figure out the person).

I think it would be possible and probably not super difficult

Here is a crude approach.

Q1) Is this a real human being with a known birthdate after 589 AD?
If yes:
Q2-Q20) Determine the exact birthdate using binary searching. (2^19 / 365 approx. = 1436, 589+1436=2025)

So at this point, you know that the person was born on, say, December 13, 1989, and you just have to figure out who it is in five guesses.

but how would you account for fictional characters or more esoteric choices (like the piltdown man)?

[DreamTrawler]

don't use all 20 questions at once :3

This made me think whether people could come up with a set of non-conditional questions that would let you identify any 20 questions candidate without knowing any information (i.e., you ask all 20 questions right at the beginning, QM answers them all, and you get 5 guesses to figure out the person).

I think it would be possible and probably not super difficult

Here is a crude approach.

Q1) Is this a real human being with a known birthdate after 589 AD?
If yes:
Q2-Q20) Determine the exact birthdate using binary searching. (2^19 / 365 approx. = 1436, 589+1436=2025)

So at this point, you know that the person was born on, say, December 13, 1989, and you just have to figure out who it is in five guesses.

Aristocrat also specified non-conditional, so this would be a situation where we would have to come up with the perfect set of questions all at once. I’d be down to try it some time.

[Spartaculous]

Aristocrat also specified non-conditional, so this would be a situation where we would have to come up with the perfect set of questions all at once. I’d be down to try it some time.

Round 157 taught me that (assuming that all questions are answered yes/no: that is, no passes), there really isn't a difference between conditional and non-conditional: that is, you can always reformulate conditional questions to be non-conditional, assuming that you are willing to make the questions be (possibly very) long.

For example, consider the following sequence of questions (assume that you know we are looking for a real human being):
Is this person born in what is now the USA?
If yes, was this person born after 1900?
If no, is this person most famous for politics?

Assuming no passes, it is equivalent to:
Is this person born in what is now the USA?
Is this person someone born after 1900 in what is now the USA or someone most famous for politics born somewhere outside the USA?

[Spartaculous]

This made me think whether people could come up with a set of non-conditional questions that would let you identify any 20 questions candidate without knowing any information (i.e., you ask all 20 questions right at the beginning, QM answers them all, and you get 5 guesses to figure out the person).

I think it would be possible and probably not super difficult

Here is a crude approach.

Q1) Is this a real human being with a known birthdate after 589 AD?
If yes:
Q2-Q20) Determine the exact birthdate using binary searching. (2^19 / 365 approx. = 1436, 589+1436=2025)

So at this point, you know that the person was born on, say, December 13, 1989, and you just have to figure out who it is in five guesses.

but how would you account for fictional characters or more esoteric choices (like the piltdown man)?

Right; that is more tricky, and would require more thought.

[miminena]

Aristocrat also specified non-conditional, so this would be a situation where we would have to come up with the perfect set of questions all at once. I’d be down to try it some time.

Round 157 taught me that (assuming that all questions are answered yes/no: that is, no passes), there really isn't a difference between conditional and non-conditional: that is, you can always reformulate conditional questions to be non-conditional, assuming that you are willing to make the questions be (possibly very) long.

For example, consider the following sequence of questions (assume that you know we are looking for a real human being):
Is this person born in what is now the USA?
If yes, was this person born after 1900?
If no, is this person most famous for politics?

Assuming no passes, it is equivalent to:
Is this person born in what is now the USA?
Is this person someone born after 1900 in what is now the USA or someone most famous for politics born somewhere outside the USA?

ooh good point

in that case the questions would probably get very complicated

this would be a fun experiment to do over a long period of time, like maybe have a thread dedicated solely to attempting to figure this out

[DarthPorg36]

Does this character ever appear in the story? (as opposed to just being mentioned)

Not entirely sure what you mean but I would say yes

[miminena]

Does this character ever appear in the story? (as opposed to just being mentioned)

Not entirely sure what you mean but I would say yes

like big brother who never actually appears but is definitely part of the story would be a no

[DarthPorg36]

First introduced after the death of George Orwell?

No

[DarthPorg36]

Is the inanimate object in question primarily composed of wood or other plant matter?

No

[DarthPorg36]

First introduced in a comic strip, comic book, or graphic novel?

No

[DarthPorg36]

Does this character ever appear in the story? (as opposed to just being mentioned)

Not entirely sure what you mean but I would say yes

like big brother who never actually appears but is definitely part of the story would be a no

I reaffirm my yes - this character appears in their story 100%

[DreamTrawler]

Is the inanimate object in question primarily composed of wood or other plant matter?

No

Dang, I was really hoping it would be the bowl of petunias from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which apparently has a name?)

[DreamTrawler]

Can this character speak English?

[miminena]

The One Ring?

[Aristocrat]

The One Ring?

Very sharp guess

[Peach Cobbler]

The One Ring?

Woah... very nice guess. This is genuinely pretty clever, even if it's not the right answer.