Subject: wrong statement on mastermind page
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 23:04:56 +0200
From: Stephan Rafler

thank you for your superb mastermind page. there you state that with the strategy of consistent guesses one needs in the worst case 7 guesses. SLIGHTLY underestimated i would say. here is a sequence of 10 consistent guesses:

1 5555 0,0 1296
222011,1625
341041,1120
413031,120
534020,36
642131,35
723141,34
843210,43
921430,42
1012344,01

the number to the right is the number of consistent guesses one could make at that stage. my computer found 2-10 after about 10,000,000 random games. i added the 5555 with a slight grin on my lips. i wouldn't bet that there is no sequence with 11. in fact it would be an interesting task to show that there is none above a certain number. in some way you are right that 7 is the worst case: because the higher ones become "better" again!

stephan


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