#3

It has been proven (by George W. Bennett; famous mind of our century) that if a person is told to pick a number from 1 to 4, 87.5%
of the time they will pick #3. Can anyone prove this theory, or is it bs?

is there any correlation to being right or left handed? different side of the brain.

Who by the way is GWB and what does the W stand for.

George W. Bennett can. My source on this is Red Wings.

I've never ever met the man, as he has no fixed address. My guess is Wexford.

W = wilbur

Let's try it out, o.k.?

3

Damn, he's right!

4

Aha!

Ok, let's try this:

<!-- Begin Poll Code -->
<table width="123" cellpadding= "4" cellspacing="0" border="1">
<tr><td bgcolor="#CDC477" width="123"><center><font size="2" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Pick a number--is it random?</font>
</center></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="#F0F0DF" width="123">
<form method="get" action="http://apps3.vantagenet.com/zpolls/count.asp">
<input type="hidden" name="ptype" value="0"><input type="hidden" name="id" value="95218024">
<font color="#000000" size= "1" face="Verdana" >Pick a number from 1 to 4.</font>


<table border="0">
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="1"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >One</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="2"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Two</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="3"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Three</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="4"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Four</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="5"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Secret of Mana</font></td></tr>
</table>
<center><input type="submit" value="Submit Vote">
<font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" ><a href="http://apps3.vantagenet.com/zpolls/count.asp?id=95218024">Current Results</a></font></center>
</form></td></tr></table>

<!-- End Poll Code -->

I don't know what that "Secret of Mana" thing is--Oh well, so much for science. :-)

I think I fixed it. Try this instead:

<!-- Begin Poll Code -->
<table width="123" cellpadding= "4" cellspacing="0" border="1">
<tr><td bgcolor="#CDC477" width="123"><center><font size="2" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Pick a number--is it random?</font>
</center></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="#F0F0DF" width="123">
<form method="get" action="http://apps3.vantagenet.com/zpolls/count.asp">
<input type="hidden" name="ptype" value="0"><input type="hidden" name="id" value="95218024">
<font color="#000000" size= "1" face="Verdana" >Pick a number from 1 to 4.</font>


<table border="0">
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="1"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >One</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="2"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Two</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="3"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Three</font></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><input type="radio" name="poll" value="4"></td><td valign="top"><font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" >Four</font></td></tr>
</table>
<center><input type="submit" value="Submit Vote">
<font size="1" color="#000000" face="Verdana" ><a href="http://apps3.vantagenet.com/zpolls/count.asp?id=95218024">Current Results</a></font></center>
</form></td></tr></table>

<!-- End Poll Code -->

I don't know what happens if you try the other one. :-)

If you are being sarcastic, I am sorry,(since my pet peeve on this board is idiots who don't understand sarcasm or literary irony), but I don't think the best place to take a random survey is in a location where people(especially the ones who read this board) can read the hypothesis you are testing.

Rok - I think perhaps Needsahobby's hobby is posting cute devices for our amusement.
I didn't detect any sarcasm, irony or idiocy inherent in the post, but if you would like to expand on those comments, there is always the bbq pit.

(I did wonder why there were two of them posted and I will delete the last as superfluous).
------
Nickrz
GQ Mod

[NeedAHobby]

Yeah, it's a stupid idea and it is tongue-in-cheek, but it really doesn't matter because so is the whole topic. The original hypothesis isn't reasonable and pretty much untestable. Besides, in a James Burke kind of way, once people are aware that such a statistic exists, they will change the way they behave so the experiment becomes unrepeatable.

Nickrz--could you delete the first one. I had a problem with the survey web page and they added an additional entry that didn't exist.

[Pooch]

I was amused. My first reaction was 'Wow! How did he do that?' I voted for #2...twice.

[Nickrz]

But, but.. I liked "the secret of mana." It is just such incongruities that make my day. Ah, the heck with it, I'll leave them both :)

[C K Dexter Haven]

The number 3 (or three repetitions) has deep-rooted connotations in western society. Think of the Biblical references (at one level), but even in day-to-day activity:
- Parent to child: "I'll give you three seconds to get in here!"
- Friend to friend: "I'll give you three gueses!"
- Genii to Aladdin: "I'll give you three wishes!"
- Yul Brenner in King and I:"Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."
- When a movie or tv show wants to establish a pattern of behaviour, or set up a running gag, they usually do it three times (watch for it next time if you don't believe me) a
- Ellipses are represented by three dots ...

and so on and so on and so on...

BTW, I am told that Chinese culture tends to put the emphasis on the number four.

[ookpik]

RW, It's not BS, although I don't know why it works so often. I used to have a card with the 4 #'s on one side, on the back it read: You chose 3! 87.5% seemed low. I never saw it fail! Great icebreaker.

[NanoByte]

I got so used to the bathroom jokes around here I thought this thread had something to do with someone's having found a *third* way to relieve oneself.

Ray

[Rodd Hill]

Did anyone else assume this thread was about Contestant #3?

[Dirty Devil]

I'm with NanoByte. I thought I was gonna' learn something new about relieving one's self. Shows where my mind is.

[Contestant #3]

Damm I'm disapointed. When I saw the subject line, I thought that there was an entire thread about ME!!!...and outside of the BBQ Pit no less!!!

BTW, It has been proven (by me) that if a teeming million is told to pick a member from 1 to 2,075, .0875% of the time they will pick Contestant #3. Can anyone prove this theory, or is it bs?

------------------
Contestant #3

[NeedAHobby]

Interestingly I thought we'd have more people who'd go against the grain and explicitly not pick 3. The survey results so far show:

[list=a] 15% (6 votes)
28% (11 votes)
41% (16 votes)
15% (6 votes)[/list=a]

Although this is in no way scientific, I expected the distribution to be more even. I thought it especially that 1 and 4 are almost never picked.

Maybe I'll rethink the way I choose a server to download the next time I'm getting something big. [Sometimes there's a list of servers to choose from, and I usually pick the second one if there's more than five or so figuring that everybody else will pick either the first one or somewhere in the middle.]

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Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work?