Results to Common Entries Contest MOJO5
These are the results for the Common Entries Contest MOJO5.
See the original contest posting for instructions.
There were a total of 45 entrants. The winner was Monty, with a
score of 601 billion (billion=10^9), which was 28% of the hypothetical
maximum. He achieved this remarkably high score by giving a highest
scoring answer to eight of the ten questions. Stacy Brown came in second
place, with 343 billion, and Richard Bean came in third place, with
215 billion. They each gave highest scoring answers to seven of the ten
questions.
Here are the answer slates of the top three entrants.
1st: Monty 2nd: Stacy Brown 3rd: Richard Bean
0.Helicopter 0.Helicopter 0.Helicopter
1.Italy 1.Italy 1.Italy
2.Aquarius 2.Capricorn 2.Aquarius
3.Middle Earth 3.Middle Earth 3.Middle Earth
4.Henry VIII 4.Henry VIII 4.Henry VIII
5.Viagra 5.Viagra 5.Prozac
6.Edvard Grieg 6.Roald Amundsen 6.Edvard Grieg
7.Boer War 7.Napoleonic Wars 7.Franco-Prussian War
8.Piano 8.Piano 8.Piano
9.Orange 9.One 9.Of
And here, because of the large number of entrants, are the next three.
4th: Martin Round 5th: Mick T. 6th: Geoff Roe
0.Helicopter 0.Helicopter 0.Helicopter
1.Italy 1.Italy 1.Italy
2.Aquarius 2.Aquarius 2.Aquarius
3.Hogwarts 3.Oz 3.Mordor
4.Henry VIII 4.Henry VIII 4.Henry VIII
5.Viagra 5.Viagra 5.Viagra
6.Edvard Grieg 6.Leif Erikson 6.Edvard Grieg
7.Crimean War 7.Crimean War 7.Crimean War
8.Guitar 8.Guitar 8.Guitar
9.Of 9.On 9.On
When I first started running these contests, a number of entrants
commented that because I didn't mark any answers wrong, they would
expect the contest to eventually reach an equilibrium, where everyone
gave the same standardized answer, like "onion," or "A," to every
answer. I thought that there would at least be a trend towards that
equilibruium, which I would need to resist by various means. No
standardized answer developed, but a nuber of people did end up giving
what Andrew Krywaniuk termed "echoic" answers -- answers which simply
repeated back part or all of the question. But that strategy too, seems
to have ended. In MOJO4 there were only a few echoic answers, and in
this contest, there were essentially none. (Depending on how you define
"echoic," there were arguably a few in questions #1 and #9. They didn't
do particularly well.)
I thought that these questions were pretty difficult, but on four of
the ten questions, more than half the entrants gave the same answer.
Questions 6, 7, and 9 were probably the hardest.
I note that at least one entrant got confused, and thought that this was
a rare entries contest.
Here are the scores of all the entrants.
Name #0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 Score Score/Max
---- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ----- ---------
Hypothetical Maximum 31 23 15 14 32 28 10 10 20 8 2.15e+12
1.Monty 31 23 15 14 32 28 7 4 20 8 6.01e+11 2.800e-01
2.Stacy Brown 31 23 4 14 32 28 10 8 20 6 3.43e+11 1.600e-01
3.Richard Bean 31 23 15 14 32 8 7 5 20 8 2.15e+11 1.000e-01
4.Martin Round 31 23 15 3 32 28 7 10 12 8 1.93e+11 9.000e-02
5.Mick T. 31 23 15 3 32 28 6 10 12 7 1.45e+11 6.750e-02
6.Geoff Roe 31 23 15 2 32 28 7 10 12 7 1.13e+11 5.250e-02
7.David Eppstein 31 23 11 5 32 28 2 8 20 6 6.75e+10 3.143e-02
8.Clay Blankenship 31 23 11 14 32 8 6 5 20 2 3.37e+10 1.571e-02
9.Andrew Hartley 31 4 11 2 32 28 10 8 20 8 3.13e+10 1.458e-02
10.Lejonel Norling 31 23 4 3 32 28 10 4 12 6 2.21e+10 1.029e-02
11.Matthew W. Grieco 31 8 11 3 32 28 4 10 12 4 1.41e+10 6.559e-03
12.Duane Cahill 2 23 15 2 32 28 6 10 20 8 1.19e+10 5.530e-03
13.Dave Gates 31 23 15 5 32 28 4 1 20 2 7.67e+09 3.571e-03
14.Mark Brader 31 23 15 3 2 28 10 5 12 7 7.55e+09 3.516e-03
15.Jean O'Shea 31 23 4 14 32 8 2 10 12 2 4.91e+09 2.286e-03
16.mensanator 3 23 15 5 32 8 6 10 12 4 3.82e+09 1.777e-03
17.Terry O'Brien 31 23 4 14 32 1 10 10 7 4 3.58e+09 1.667e-03
18.Richard Donovan 31 8 15 2 32 1 10 8 20 8 3.05e+09 1.420e-03
19.Barbara Grenier 31 3 15 2 32 28 7 4 20 2 2.8e+09 1.304e-03
20.Adam Garner 31 23 2 2 32 28 10 4 12 2 2.45e+09 1.143e-03
21.Jon Persky 2 23 4 2 32 28 4 10 12 8 1.27e+09 5.899e-04
22.Rick Zepp 4 3 2 14 32 28 6 8 20 4 1.16e+09 5.386e-04
23.Ben Zimmer 2 8 1 14 32 28 4 10 20 7 1.12e+09 5.236e-04
24.Ray Newport 31 23 15 1 32 2 10 8 20 1 1.1e+09 5.102e-04
25.Fred Galvin 3 1 11 14 32 28 2 10 20 6 9.93e+08 4.628e-04
26.Eytan Zweig 31 23 4 14 32 1 1 8 12 8 9.81e+08 4.571e-04
27.Nick Gardner 31 8 2 3 32 28 10 10 1 7 9.33e+08 4.348e-04
28.Ted Schuerzinger 31 8 11 1 1 28 4 10 20 7 4.28e+08 1.993e-04
29.Brian VanDorn 31 3 15 1 2 28 4 5 20 8 2.5e+08 1.165e-04
30.Neil Sunderland 31 8 1 1 32 28 2 10 7 8 2.49e+08 1.159e-04
31.Tom Rushworth 4 23 11 3 32 8 4 10 2 2 1.24e+08 5.793e-05
32.Peter Whincop 31 1 1 14 32 8 1 5 20 8 8.89e+07 4.141e-05
33.Jonathan Dushoff 31 4 4 5 1 28 6 1 20 8 6.67e+07 3.106e-05
34.John Drew 31 1 15 3 1 28 4 10 7 6 6.56e+07 3.057e-05
35.Jacky Croydon 31 23 4 2 1 28 1 4 12 7 5.37e+07 2.500e-05
36.Sean Blanchflower 3 4 2 14 32 1 7 8 7 6 2.53e+07 1.178e-05
37.Millie 31 1 2 2 2 8 10 4 20 8 1.27e+07 5.915e-06
38.Jessica Moore 1 23 11 5 2 28 2 10 1 8 1.13e+07 5.280e-06
39.Amy Pace 1 23 1 2 32 28 2 10 1 8 6.59e+06 3.072e-06
40.Gerrit de Blaauw 2 8 15 14 1 1 7 4 7 8 5.27e+06 2.454e-06
41.Andy Jakcsy 4 8 11 14 1 8 1 4 20 1 3.15e+06 1.469e-06
42.Michael Crowder 1 4 11 3 32 28 1 10 2 1 2.37e+06 1.102e-06
43.Rich Grise 31 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 7 1 2.39e+03 1.112e-09
44.Warren Sergent 31 1 2 1 1 1 1 10 1 1 620 2.888e-10
45.Divya Mittal 4 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 7 1 56 2.609e-11
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 0. Name an invention which appears in Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches
> or drawings, but did not appear in working form until after his
> death.
31 Helicopter
4 Airplane
3 Parachute
2 Bicycle
2 Flying machine
1 Calculator
1 "flying machine" (airplane)
1 Glider
As you can see, there were a number of different flying machines.
Under my "general/specific" rule, general and specific answers are
treated entirely separately, so "Flying machine" is a separate answer.
I had a little more difficulty with "'flying machine' (airplane)."
One possibility was to view the answer as "flying machine," and the
"(airplane)" as a side comment -- but the rules clearly state that comments
should be "clearly marked so as not to be confused with your answers," which
is not the case here. Another possibility was to view "(airplane)" as
clarifying the answer. But given the number of other plausible flying
machines answers, this argument doesn't work so well. So I viewed this
as a new hybrid answer.
I expected a little more variance with this question. What about the
submarine and the tank? And what about the flush toilet (see
http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/bookshelf/Leads02/colossalmath.html)?
:)
> 1. Name a country in Europe other than Andorra, France, Germany, the
> United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Vatican City, or Singapore.
23 Italy
8 Spain
4 Andorra
3 Switzerland
1 Albania
1 Belgium
1 England
1 France
1 Holland
1 Portugal
1 Singapore
I thought Italy and Spain to be roughly equally good answers, but I
guess not. I wrote the question to try to make Monaco a reasonable choice,
as the only tiny European country left off the list (Luxembourg is a giant
compared to these guys) -- but that reasoning was just too obscure. And,
yes, I am aware that Singapore is not in Europe.
Here, six people picked "incorrect" answers. Plus, one person picked England,
which I would not count as incorrect (if I were making these sorts of
decisions), but which is clearly intended to violate the intent of the question.
For those of you who don't remember, or weren't around at the time,
I asked similar questions in MOJO1 and MOJO2. Here is the
question in MOJO1:
>> MOJO1: 6. Name any country in Europe other than Andorra.
> 38 France
> 6 Germany
> 5 England
> 4 United Kingdom (UKoGBaNI)
> 3 Andorra
> 3 Spain
> 1 Belgium
> 1 Britain
And here's the question in MOJO2:
>> MOJO2: 2. Name a country in Europe other than Lichtenstein or France.
>
> 22 Germany
> 8 England
> 7 France
> 5 Spain
> 4 Italy
> 3 Switzerland
> 2 Lichtenstein
> 1 Andorra
> 1 Great Britain
> 1 Portugal
> 2. Pick a sign of the zodiac.
15 Aquarius
11 Aries
4 Capricorn
4 Leo
2 Pisces
2 Sagittarius
2 Virgo
1 Cancer
1 Gemini
1 Libra
1 Scorpio
1 Taurus
Every sign got picked at least once. In most newspaper columns and web sites
that I've seen, Aires gets listed first. But I'm not clear on what makes
Aquarius so attractive. Is it the "dawning off the Age of Aquarius" line?
Or is there something else?
> 3. Name a fictional place.
14 Middle Earth
5 Atlantis
3 Camelot
3 Hogwarts (=Hogwarts Castle=Hogwarts School)
3 Oz
2 Heaven
2 Mordor
2 Narnia
2 Never Never Land
2 Shangri-La
1 Avalon
1 Eden
1 Lilliput
1 Metropolis
1 Moria
1 Utopia
1 Xanadu
I'm glad that I don't have to rule on the correctness of answers. Which
of these places are fictional. I believe that Xanadu is undisputedly
real, and that Camelot, while debatable, is believed to be real. Shangri-La
is definitely fictional (although there are now many real places named
Shangri-La after the fictional place). I have no idea about Avalon.
Anyone else out there know any more details about which answers are
correct?
But in any event, ruling on whether "heaven" and "Eden" are fictional strikes
me as somewhat unpleasant.
Moria and Mordor are, of course, in Middle-Earth, but are clearly
separate answers under my specific/general rule. And as one entrant
commented, if there was ever a time to give "Middle-Earth" for this
question, it's now.
> 4. Name a former King of England.
32 Henry VIII
2 George III
2 Henry
1 Arthur
1 George IV
1 George VI
1 Henry IV
1 Henry 5th
1 Henry VII
1 James
1 Richard II
1 William I (the Conqueror)
Under my "specific/general rule," a general name, like "Henry," is
counted separately from more specific answers, like "Henry IV."
I thought George III (who was king during the U.S. revolutionary war)
would do better than that. But I guess not. I'm not sure what the deal
is with all of these scattered single answers. While some of the isolated
answers seem reasonable, I suspect that a lot of them are from people who
got confused about history.
> 5. Pick a brand of prescription drug.
28 Viagra
8 Prozac
2 Aspirin
1 APAP in USA / (Paracetamol in UK)
1 Aspro
1 Heroin
1 Insulin
1 Marijuana
1 Pills
1 Squibb
I guess Prozac is a bit too old to seriously compete with Viagra. I had
thought that a few other answers, like Ritalin or Claritin, would make
the list as well. But Viagra was too obvious.
Of course, neither Aspirin, nor Pills, are brands of prescription drug.
> 6. Name a dead Norwegian.
10 Roald Amundsen
7 Edvard Grieg
6 Leif Erikson
4 Henrik Ibsen
4 Eric the Red
2 Niels Abel
2 Sonia Henie
2 Vidkun Quisling
1 Nobel
1 Thor
1 King Fredrick
1 Anne Pedersdotter Granhus-Svarva
1 Harold Haarfager
1 Dag Hammarskjöld
1 Thor Heyerdahl
1 Albert Nobel
Gerrit de Blauuw has (correctly) informed me that Thor Heyerdahl is
still alive. I would also point out that Leif Ericson was born in Iceland,
so labelling him Norwegian seems a bit sketchy. But I guess he's of
Norwegian heritage, so that's OK.
Some entrants gave a full name, while others just gave the last name.
For all these last names, there's only one reasonable dead Norwegian
that I can think of, so I counted these the same. For example,
"Grieg," is the same as "Edvard Grieg." The difference between
this question, and question 4, is that in question 4, I can think of
many kings to associate with "Henry." I also note that because of
transliteration issues, the names were often spelled in a
variety of different ways.
One person answered "Nobel," who I took to mean "Alfred Nobel" (although
I note that Alfred Nobel was Swedish). But no one answered "Alfred
Nobel." One person did answer "Albert Nobel," which I considered
counting as just a minor typo. But in the end, I decided that it was too
much of a mistake for me to "fix," and I left it unchanged. So "Nobel"
and "Albert Nobel" are separate answers.
On a similar note, "Thor" and "Thor Heyerdahl" were counted separately,
since "Thor" is presumably the god.
I didn't expect Quisling to come in #1, but I thought that he'd do
better than this -- after all, we have an English word ("quisling")
named after him.
And Munch does not make this list at all.
> 7. Name a 19th century war which involved at least one European power.
10 Crimean War
10 War of 1812
8 Napoleonic Wars
5 Franco-Prussian War
4 Boer War
4 Spanish-American War
1 Battle of Leipzig
1 French Revolution
1 The Hundred-Years War
1 World War I
Of the top answers, I think the Crimean War is the one which I have the
most trouble justifying. Given the large number of Americans in this
contest, it seemed reasonable to pick either the "War of 1812," or the
"Spanish-American War." On the other hand, since the question
specifically refers to Europeans, it also makes sense to pick a
European-centered war. But the Franco-Prussian War and Napoleanic wars
both strike me as more high-profile and historically important. I've
seen lots of pictures of Napolean, and I can connect the Franco-Prussian
war with lots of important 20th century developments. But the Crimean
War strikes me as sort of tucked off the annals of history -- historically
important for various sundry reasons, but nothing that I have a strong
mental picture of, and not something that evokes strong associations.
Even the Boer War, which I frankly never even considered, seems
stronger, on the grounds that the question asks for a European power,
and the obvious European power to start with is Britain.
Of course, the proof of the answer is how many votes it got. I'm just
saying that I find the answer of the Crimean War a bit puzzling, and I'd
be curious to see why people picked it.
A number of the minor answers are wrong. The French Revolution was in the
18th century, and World War I was in the 20th century. The Hundred Years
War was in the 14th and 15th century. And the battle of Leipzig, while
occuring in the 19th century, was a battle, not a war. I'm not sure how
many, if any, were intentionally wrong.
I would also point out that the Hundred Years war seems better
characterized as a series of wars, rather than "a" war. And the same
argument can be made about the Napoleanic wars, although this could then
get into pretty slippery terrain. . . And also, there were two Boer
war, so the answer of "Boer War" (or "Boer") doesn't seem quite specific
enough, although I assume that the entrants were referring to the second,
far more famous one (1899-1902). Luckily, I don't have to sort any of
these things out.
> 8. Name a type of musical instrument.
20 Piano (=Pianoforte)
12 Guitar
7 Stringed (=Strings=String Instruments)
2 Brass
1 Didgeridoo
1 Percussion
1 Violin
1 Woodwind
One person answered "pianoforte." I consulted several dictionaries, and
some treated it as a synonym, and some treated it as a more specific
case. I decided to give the entrant the benefit of the doubt.
> 9. Pick a word which begins with the letter "o".
8 Of
8 Orange
7 On
6 One
4 Oh
2 O
2 Octopus
2 Out
1 Obfuscate
1 Open
1 Owe
1 Or
1 Output
1 Ovary
I was worried that "oh" was too obvious a choice, but it didn't even do
particularly well. If seems to me to be the strongest of all the two
letter words beginning in "o."
I'm also surprised that a long word like "orange" would do well. I had
thought that for questions like this, short words were ideal.
Well, that's it for now. I'm in the middle of a fairly time-consuming
job search, so I'm not sure when I'll have time for another contest. It'll
at least be a month or so.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Momo