Re: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy

I think the previous commenters overlooked the questions!

While the previous games will certainly have named animals (and thus frequencies), where do the yes/no questions get involved?

All of the previous games would also record the questions. It is possible that the questions are not optimal (or even relevant), so a better approach might be a list of attributes for each possible animal, independent of its history in previous games.

For practical purposes, besides yes/no, these games usually allow "doesn't matter" and "I don't know".

-QM
--
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of

Comment on Re: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy

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Re^2: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on May 02, 2013 at 18:08 UTC
QM, Well, I did say: Setting aside the "questions" portion since my problem really has nothing to do with the game The point is that once you have an optimal tree, you can find the questions that work. Cheers - L~R	[reply]
Re^3: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by Random_Walk (Prior) on May 03, 2013 at 07:19 UTC
"The point is that once you have an optimal tree, you can find the questions that work" I am not sure this assumption is true, unless you allow questions like: Is it in the group 'cow, fish, chicken, rhinoceros, amoeba, phoenix, suckling pigs, Those that tremble as if they were mad? If we are limited to more normal questions such as 'Does it live in water', 'Is it a mammal' Then will we always be able to find a question to divide each set of candidates? It looks like you are going to need to analyse all questions asked before and find the ones that split the list of all animals most optimally for your tree, probably adapting the tree to fit the possible questions as you go. Or interface to Wikipedia and get real AI like. Cheers, R. Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on May 03, 2013 at 13:48 UTC
Random_Walk, If the hypothetical problem posed were the real problem, you are right. I did make it clear though that you didn't need to worry about the questions though because they weren't part of the real problem. Does restating it this way help? Hypothetically, you would be able to find the questions that worked so don't worry about them - focus on the optimal tree. Cheers - L~R	[reply]
Re^3: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by QM (Parson) on May 03, 2013 at 11:32 UTC
Yep, my bad. -QM -- Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of	[reply]
Re^2: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by karlgoethebier (Abbot) on May 02, 2013 at 19:52 UTC
@QM: ŤI think the previous commenters overlooked the questions!...ť May be this is true. And i'm repeating myself and this isn't my very best day. But i don't give up. Else i won't sleep tonight. So please tell us: what is your solution? Karl ŤThe Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostropheť	[reply]
Re^3: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by QM (Parson) on May 03, 2013 at 11:39 UTC
I didn't have a solution in mind. There's the simplistic AI that asks you for a distinguishing question and records the answer every time it guesses wrong. To get beyond that you would need a matrix of questions, and answers for each animal; or otherwise generate a semantic database and minimize the categories and question tree. I think it ends up being something like generating a minimal cover set (but I'm fuzzy on this). -QM -- Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of	[reply]
Re^4: Challenge: Optimal Animals/Pangolins Strategy by karlgoethebier (Abbot) on May 03, 2013 at 17:14 UTC
Ť...I think it ends up being something like generating a minimal cover set (but I'm fuzzy on this).ť Thanks QM for the explanation. Best regards, Karl P.S.: For the mere mortals, like me: Set cover problem Cover ŤThe Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostropheť	[reply]