The Poisson distribution is the best probability distribution. Probably.

Don't forget: if you haven't voted in my 'When Do You Quiz?' Poll, do please spare a moment to do so here!

We won this week, but could you have done even better?

Bonus! I've added some extra fun to the alternative questions this week, so do have a go at them as well!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The left-fielder

The ones that got away
1) The first law school for women in the US was originally named after which cross-dressing Shakespeare character?
2) Mary has a purse containing 50 coins totalling exactly 1 dollar. Mary drops 1 coin, what is the percentage chance that coin is a penny? The available coins are 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents and 25 cents, and you need to be within 5% to get the point.
3) What is the name of the main family in Downton Abbey?
4) Of the two quotes that follow, one is attributed to Vladimir Putin, the other to a member of House Lannister in Game of Thrones. For 1 point, which is which?
"There are no men like me. Only me."
"Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order to prove that you are right."

The answers

1) Portia (from The Merchant of Venice)
2) 85% (she either has 40 pennies, 8 nickels and 2 dimes, or 45 pennies, 2 nickels, 2 dimes and a quarter)
3) Crawley
4) The first quote is Lannister, the second is Putin

Our excuses

1) A very small set on a quiz that we did almost awkwardly well on (including a perfect score through the first two rounds). Still, an interesting mix in the ones we did drop, with this a particularly good question as it rewards either knowledge of US law schools, or of Shakespeare (Portia's 'cross-dressing' comes as she assumes the role of a lawyer's apprentice). Not being familiar with The Merchant of Venice we instead went for Viola from Twelfth Night (after a not inconsiderable time spent trying to remember her name).
2) Urgh. One of those times where I think "oh well, at least this proves I don't leave out questions from the blog if they're too embarrassing". After a while spent convincing myself there were only two possible combinations, I failed at the last by thinking "ok, so one is 40 pennies, the other is 45 pennies, so that's a 42.5% chance!", forgetting there were 50 coins in total, not 100.
3) I'm starting to notice a certain 'curse of Downton' cropping up on quizzes here, where the combination of North Americans seeming strangely obsessed with the show, along with our own utter indifference, renders such questions impenetrable. My notes tell me we went with 'Bannister' in the end, although whether this was just a hangover from the Lannister question is beyond my beer-fogged memory.
4) The doctor and the left-fielder independently agreed on the wrong way round for these, and I was too busy carefully counting coin combinations to get involved (and I seldom try with 'this-or-that' style questions anyway). On the plus side, there were another pair of quotes which they did identify correctly, so we did as well as you'd expect picking at random.

How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions

With only four Ones That Got Away this week I thought I'd get a bit more creative to offer slightly more bang for your blog-reading buck. For one week only you're getting twice as many alternative questions, which come in two formats: 'Straight Up' and 'Double or Nothing'.

'Straight Up' questions are simple fact-based trivia with 1 point available for each correct answer. Points scored on these questions are safe regardless of what happens next.

'Double or Nothing' questions have two possible responses, and it's up to you whether you provide one or both answers. Giving one correct answer scores you 1 point, giving two correct answers scores you 2 points but if you give two answers and either is wrong you'll score nothing for that question! After you read each question you'll have to decide whether you'll play it safe with one answer, or risk it all by going for two. Good luck!

Part 1: straight up: 
1a) What two-word phrase is used by modern critics to label Shakespearean works that are not easily categorized as comedy, tragedy, or history?
2a) If I toss a (fair) coin twice, what is the probability it will land on the same side both times?
3a) Whose 'Book of Household Management', a guide to running a household in Victorian Britain, has sold millions of copies despite advice including boiling pasta for nearly 2 hours?
4a) If 'Raymond Richard' is the author George R. R. Martin, then who is 'Ronald Reuel'? (Surname suffices.)

Part 2: double or nothing:
1b) Two of Shakespeare's canonical plays have titles wherein all words begin with the same letter. Name one or both. (Obviously one-word titles don't count.)
2b) A GCSE maths question was doing the rounds a few weeks ago concerning someone called Hannah and a bag of sweets. Consternation abound concerning the equation n² - n - 90 = 0. Give one or both values of n that satisfy it. (Note: you should not take into account what n actually represented in the original exam question.)
3b) The title characters of both a 1937 animated film and a 1950 animated film were scullery maids. Name one or both.
4b) Vladimir Putin's surname is written as 'Poutine' in French, which is hilarious because poutine is a Canadian dish traditionally consisting of french fries and two other ingredients. Name one or both.

The answers

1a) Problem plays
2a) 50% (writing H for heads and T for tails, there are four possible results from tossing a coin twice: HH, HT, TH, TT, of which half are both heads or both tails)
3a) Mrs (Isabella) Beeton
4a) J. R. R. Tolkien
1b) Love's Labour's Lost and The Tempest
2b) 10 and -9 (although if you remembered the whole question you'd know that -9 wouldn't have been possible as n was the number of sweets in Hannah's bag)
3b) Snow White and Cinderella
4b) Gravy and cheese (specifically, curds)

How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll! (Remember the maximum possible is 12 points!)

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