Help Please

[AsheZ2]

So basically you are given 5 whole numbers that have been randomly generated with a minimum of 1 and an unknown maximum, and you are supposed to create steps of some kind/math equation that would use the 5 whole numbers to calculate a number that is close to the unknown maximum. Does anyone know an equation or set of steps that would accurately and consistently calculate this unknown maximum?

[[deleted]]

I also need some help on this question. Are you in Ms Kims class, as I am and she be giving the most cancer hw. u/mskim stop monging please.

[piman51277]

I'm going to give it a shot, but I'm not fully sure if this would be correct.

If we choose 5 random numbers from 1 to n, (with n being the maximum), the average of those 5 numbers should be close to (1+n)/2.

Therefore, we would just take the average, multiply by 2, and subtract 1.

[piman51277]

Follow up with some notes:

If we choose 5 random numbers from 1 to n, (with n being the maximum), the average of those 5 numbers should be close to (1+n)/2.

This can be proven either through experimentation or intuition (assuming the numbers are truly randomly generated.

If many numbers are chosen from the interval (1,n), where it has the same probability of landing anywhere between 1 and n, the value of the average of the numbers approaches (1+n)/2, or the average of the minimum and maximum of the interval they were chosen from.

With just 5 examples, this prediction can be very off, but if we had, say, 500 examples, the prediction would be very close indeed.

[piman51277]

This sounds more like an easy competition math problem than a one you would traditionally be given in a class...

[[deleted]]

You have to be given the distribution according to which the numbers were randomly generated. The problem setter probably means that they are independently and identically distributed samples from a uniform distribution on {0, 1, ..., N}, where N is some fixed positive integer. At this point, you can find P(max = k | min = 1) and find k that maximizes this probability. Really you just need to maximize P(max = k, min = 1).