5 logical pirates find a 100 coin chest

[Bob-omb]

they are trying to figure out how to split the coins.

However all of the pirates are different rank in that Pirate A is great than Pirate B and so on, such that Pirate E is the lowest rank.

they have decided that let the most senior pirate decide how to split the coins, then all the pirates will take a vote. if at least half the pirates agree with the decision then that is how they split, if more than half disagrees, the most senior pirate is thrown overboard and the next senior pirate decides how to split the gold.

assuming all of the pirates wants to maximize the gold they get without being thrown overboard, how would the gold be split and why?

 

[snafu]

You said half, and there's five.. You can't split five in half evenly.. Whaa?

 

[Fawkes]

seems like you post this on a variety of message boards, but my answer is the same as someone else who responded:

Pirate A is a nice guy and offers 20 coins each. They all agree and go for a pint together. The end.

 

[aanallein]

Pirates D and E will always vote to throw overboard to increase their chance of higher earnings so Pirate A will outsmart them explain to pirates B and C that the only way they can win is to prevent a cascade situation down to DE and offer Pirates ABC each some arbitrary high amounts (anything over 25 for pirate B and 33 for pirate C would work) and D and E zero. Vote will go 3 to 2. The end.

 

[justsomeguy]

For some reason i rarely find game theory and its attendent matrices fun ><

 

[Keaton]

Its a trick question.
Theres no such thing as a logical pirate. Trust me.
-DreadPirateRoberts

 

[Care]

If I was the lead pirate id take all the coins and tell my scallywags to keep on swabbin the decks and get all these ideas of voting and democracy out of their heads.

 

[AmorRoark]

^ lol, winner.

 

[modern buddha]

A: 22
B: 21
C: 20
D: 19
E: 18

Assuming that pirates C, D and E think this is fair enough to not toss A overboard.

 

[xbloodwhipx]

Its democracy in the usa, we get what we want with democracy and thats goodd

 

[soez]

A gets 34, B gets 33, C gets 33. And D and E get screwed and there's nothing they can do about it.

 

[Darksidesam]

i think that while pirates A, B, C and D are discussing it,

Pirate E nicks it all and sods off

 

[justsomeguy]

are they all rational? (is this the same as 'logical'?)

 

[sssssssssss]

if Pirate A was unintelligent, he would suggest something like
A - 34
B - 33
C - 33
D - 0
E - 0

Then B and C would say sike cause they can look ahead and of course D and E would reject too
so then B would unintelligently suggest

B - 50
C - 50
D - 0
E - 0

Of course B would vote yes and D and E would vote no.
But then C is smart and sugests

C - 99
D - 0
E - 1

So D would vote no and E and C woould vote yes because if E voted no:

D - 100
E - 0

after outvoting C

SOO

A E and B are realizing that B and C have control so A might vote something like

A - 34
B - 0
C - 0
D - 33
E - 33

because thats the most A D and E can get from that proposal because if D and E vote him off, B will always propose

B - 99
C - 0
D - 0
E - 1

because E knows the most it will get is 1

so actually A can propose
A - 98
B - 0
C - 1
D - 0
E - 1

OR

A - 98
B - 0
C - 0
D - 1
E - 1
and still win.

next.

 

[justsomeguy]

i always thought these sort of prisoner dilemma problems had no absolute solutions; i recall reading about a prisoners' dilemma competition, where theorists would submit their strategies to compete against a field of other strategies.

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Logical autistic answer-melt gold down, divide by weight. each person gets as equal a share as possible, corresponding to the atomic weight of gold.

 

[Samadhi]

Its a trick question.
Theres no such thing as a logical pirate. Trust me.
-DreadPirateRoberts

hehe :D

I want this on a t-shirt.