gjm comments on Rationality Quotes June 2012 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: OpenThreadGuy 02 June 2012 05:14PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (413)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: [deleted] 02 June 2012 06:10:39PM *  3 points [-]

IIRC there was an xkcd about that, but I don't remember enough of it to search for it.

EDIT: It was the alt test of 759.

Comment author: gjm 02 June 2012 10:39:04PM 17 points [-]

Note that xkcd 759 is about something subtly different: you work from both ends and then, when they don't meet in the middle, try to write the "solution" in such a way that whoever's marking it won't notice the jump.

I know someone who did that in an International Mathematical Olympiad. (He used an advanced variant of the technique, where you arrange for the jump to occur between two pages of your solution.) He got 6/7 for that solution, and the mark he lost was for something else. (Which was in fact correct, but you will appreciate that no one was inclined to complain about it.)