GUESS
Charles François (2004). GUESS, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 1496.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1496 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
- “A question which can be answered by ”yes“ or ”no“ (A. RAPOPORT, 1966, p.6).
This is a very useful notion for the evaluation of the quantity of information.
A. RAPOPORT explains: “It can be easily seen that a number from one to one hundred can always be guessed in seven guesses, while a number from one to one milion can always be guessed in twenty guesses. To do this one needs to make guesses in such a way as to eliminate one half of the remaining range. In the case of a milion, one starts with: ”Is it less than 500.000 ? If yes, “Is it less than 250.000 ?”. If no, then is it less than 375.000 ?“, etc. Since one million is less than 220 , it will take at most 20 such dichotomies to determine the number” (p.6).