1032
a bit of advice (sh.itjust.works)
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[-] 18107@aussie.zone 176 points 3 days ago

My partner is non-binary, so this search wouldn't work on them.

[-] emotional_soup_88@programming.dev 44 points 3 days ago

Quantum partner.

[-] anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago

While your partner can't be found by it, they can be approximated to an arbitrary degree of precision.

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 127 points 3 days ago

Yes, people some times live up to 120 years. You should start at 60.

[-] SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world 71 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

With the limits of longevity still being pushed, I'd suggest sticking with the OP binary search theme and start at 64.

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 30 points 3 days ago

Well, round numbers will indeed make the math easier.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 27 points 3 days ago

If you like round numbers, 69 is all curves.

[-] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago

What a sexy, sexy number

[-] Klear@quokk.au 1 points 3 days ago

There was something familiar about the number on the desk. The handwriting was all pretty curves.

[-] Ziglin@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

So 64 is absolutely perfect being 1000000 in binary, then all you need to do is go one bit a time for a binary search.

[-] Goodeye8@piefed.social 8 points 3 days ago

And for obvious reasons I think the minimum age has to be 18 so really you should start at 69 (heh, nice).

[-] lefaucet@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago

You have won at the Internet today! Well done!

[-] AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 72 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Abbott: “So say you’re 40 and you like a girl that’s 10. Well you’re really too old for her because you’re 4x her age. So let’s say you wait 5years. Now you’re 45 and she’s 15, so you’re only 3x as old as her, but that’s still a bit much, so you wait another 15years and now you’re 60 and she’s 30. Only half your age now.

How long do you have to wait till you’re both the same age?”

Costello: “Well 4 then 3 then 2… at this rate she’d better be willing to wait for me too.”

Abbott: “what do you mean?”

Costello: “Going like this, eventually she’ll be older than me and she better wait for me to catch up.”

Abbott: “Why would she wait for you?”

Costello: “WELL I WAITED FOR HER!”

[-] howrar@lemmy.ca 21 points 3 days ago

What you want is a distribution-aware contextual binary search. With whatever information you have (appearance, personality, vocabulary, etc), you can come up with a probability distribution in the space of possible ages and start your guess with the value at the 50th percentile. Then depending on whether the true age is higher or lower, your next guess will be either the 25th or 75th percentile. Rinse and repeat.

In reality, the way most people intuitively do agree guessing is already an approximation of this procedure.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 36 points 3 days ago

What, and then go 37.5? 24 and 48 are right there.

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 7 points 3 days ago

32 is half human life expectancy, and a power of 2.

[-] mogranja@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 2 days ago

Gets my vote

[-] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago

Yes, do it in reverse. Ask her if she's 25 first, then if she's 50

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 52 points 3 days ago

If she is not 64 then she is 32.

If she is not 32 then she is 16.

overthere.sit(self)

[-] SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world 58 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

At 16, she was FAT.
At 32, she was still FAT32.
But by 64, she was exFAT.

[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 3 days ago

There's no right answer to that question. The only winning move is not to play.

[-] davetortoise@reddthat.com 17 points 3 days ago

Jokes on you, refusing to play is also a losing move. The only winning move is to guess 2-3 years less than the correct answer, by sheer luck.

[-] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 43 points 3 days ago

the mistake was assuming the upper limit ended at 100

[-] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 23 points 3 days ago

Gotta follow Price is Right rules. Closest without going over.

[-] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 30 points 3 days ago

Obviously you should use an exponential search, assuming you don't know the age of the oldest human.

[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Watch out, starting at 50 for binary search will fail if they are 100+ years old. Stay woke.

[-] protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago

binary search still works fine, you just need a function probability then you cut at the median, and then rucurse into the slices

[-] capuccino@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

lol I just realized that everytime I play guessing numbers I do this

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago

What now. "Don't ask a girl her age" but if a girl asks her own age it's also dangerous?

[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 9 points 3 days ago
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2026
1032 points (99.5% liked)

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