FRIDAY 11/2

IC101:
Today: I was disappointed in the lack of preparation for today. Each group was to have came up with a solution to the assigned problems on Wednesday, and other than a few of you, this did not happen. Preparing for class and demonstrating your preparation through participation is a requirement. Do not let this happen again. We worked on a group problem based on vertical and horizontal thinking.

Problem:
There is an island with 10 inhabitants. One day a monster comes and says that he intends to eat every one of them but will give them a chance to survive in the following way:In the morning, the monster will line up all the people - single file so that the last person sees the remaining 9, the next person sees the remaining 8, and so on until the first person that obviously sees no one in front of himself. The monster will then place black or white hats on their heads randomly (they can be all white, all black or any combination thereof).The monster will offer each person starting with the last one (who sees everyone else's hats) to guess the color of his/her own hat. The answer can only be one word: "white" or "black". The monster will eat him on the spot if he guessed wrong, and will leave him alive if he guessed right. All the remaining people will hear both the guess and the outcome of the guess. The monster will then go on to the next to last person (who only sees 8 people), and so on until the end. The monster gives them the whole night to think.The Task:Devise the optimal strategy that these poor natives could use to maximize their survival rate.

Assumptions:
1) All the 10 people can easily understand your strategy, and will execute it with perfect precision.
2) If the monster suspects that any of the people are giving away information to any of the remaining team members by intonation of words when answering, or any other signs, or by touch, he will eat everyone.
3) The only allowed response is a short, unemotional "white" or "black".

Solution:
The first guy to guess (guy #10) will be the only one to assume the following value for the words "white" and "black": The answer "black" will mean that there are an odd number of black hats that he sees. The answer "white" will mean that there are an odd number of white hats that he sees. This way one by one all the other 9 people will know the color of their hats.

Homework:
Come see me next week regarding spring class selection advising.
Monday: Civic Engagement Project discussion. Bring your scene scripts.
Tuesday: Greg Mortenson in Pierce Hall at 10:00am.
Wednesday/Friday: Common Reader Unit 3.

IC212
Today: We took a quiz based on this week's discussions and then discussed Flatteners 1-3. Our discussion focused on how the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Netscape going public in 1995 contributed to the flattening of the world.

Homework:
Monday: Flatteners 4-7 Read this.
Wednesday: Quiz on Flatteners 4-10, and discussion of Flatteners 8-10.
Friday: Group meetings.