What are some easy to understand ways of defining an order among a group of people
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One of the most popular techniques employed in a game show to define what order people take turns to play a game is by each person picking a piece of paper with the order of play written on it from an urn.
What are some other techniques that are easy to employ (with less/no props), ubiquitous, and communicable to a layman (a simple hashing function using their names) and not potentially offensive (ordering by one's height could tap on someone's insecurity).
permutations
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
One of the most popular techniques employed in a game show to define what order people take turns to play a game is by each person picking a piece of paper with the order of play written on it from an urn.
What are some other techniques that are easy to employ (with less/no props), ubiquitous, and communicable to a layman (a simple hashing function using their names) and not potentially offensive (ordering by one's height could tap on someone's insecurity).
permutations
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
You want a random permutation. A standard technique, though better suited to a computer program, is Fisher-Yates shuffle.
$endgroup$
– Jean-Claude Arbaut
Dec 17 '18 at 7:23
$begingroup$
Nice. Should be employable when the crowd isn't big (<20)
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 7:27
add a comment |
$begingroup$
One of the most popular techniques employed in a game show to define what order people take turns to play a game is by each person picking a piece of paper with the order of play written on it from an urn.
What are some other techniques that are easy to employ (with less/no props), ubiquitous, and communicable to a layman (a simple hashing function using their names) and not potentially offensive (ordering by one's height could tap on someone's insecurity).
permutations
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
$endgroup$
One of the most popular techniques employed in a game show to define what order people take turns to play a game is by each person picking a piece of paper with the order of play written on it from an urn.
What are some other techniques that are easy to employ (with less/no props), ubiquitous, and communicable to a layman (a simple hashing function using their names) and not potentially offensive (ordering by one's height could tap on someone's insecurity).
permutations
permutations
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
asked Dec 17 '18 at 7:20
OmleyOmley
132
132
$begingroup$
You want a random permutation. A standard technique, though better suited to a computer program, is Fisher-Yates shuffle.
$endgroup$
– Jean-Claude Arbaut
Dec 17 '18 at 7:23
$begingroup$
Nice. Should be employable when the crowd isn't big (<20)
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 7:27
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You want a random permutation. A standard technique, though better suited to a computer program, is Fisher-Yates shuffle.
$endgroup$
– Jean-Claude Arbaut
Dec 17 '18 at 7:23
$begingroup$
Nice. Should be employable when the crowd isn't big (<20)
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 7:27
$begingroup$
You want a random permutation. A standard technique, though better suited to a computer program, is Fisher-Yates shuffle.
$endgroup$
– Jean-Claude Arbaut
Dec 17 '18 at 7:23
$begingroup$
You want a random permutation. A standard technique, though better suited to a computer program, is Fisher-Yates shuffle.
$endgroup$
– Jean-Claude Arbaut
Dec 17 '18 at 7:23
$begingroup$
Nice. Should be employable when the crowd isn't big (<20)
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 7:27
$begingroup$
Nice. Should be employable when the crowd isn't big (<20)
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 7:27
add a comment |
1 Answer
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In John Barth's novel The end of the road, whenever "the Doctor" cannot make a decision between alternatives, he resorts to three principles:
- Sinistrality ("if the alternatives are side by side, choose the one on the left")
- Antecedence ("if they're consecutive in time, choose the earlier")
- Alphabetic Priority ("choose the alternative whose name begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet")
In the current case, one can generalize these to:
- sinistrality in birthplace (western birthplaces first, eastern birthplaces last)
- antecedence in birthdate (older people first, younger people last)
- alphabetical priority by last name (ordered by last name)
Others include:
- alphabetizing by birthplace
- height
- alphabetizing by father's (or mother's or ...) first names
- ordering by driver's license number
- ordering by middle digits of social security number
- etc.
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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$begingroup$
In John Barth's novel The end of the road, whenever "the Doctor" cannot make a decision between alternatives, he resorts to three principles:
- Sinistrality ("if the alternatives are side by side, choose the one on the left")
- Antecedence ("if they're consecutive in time, choose the earlier")
- Alphabetic Priority ("choose the alternative whose name begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet")
In the current case, one can generalize these to:
- sinistrality in birthplace (western birthplaces first, eastern birthplaces last)
- antecedence in birthdate (older people first, younger people last)
- alphabetical priority by last name (ordered by last name)
Others include:
- alphabetizing by birthplace
- height
- alphabetizing by father's (or mother's or ...) first names
- ordering by driver's license number
- ordering by middle digits of social security number
- etc.
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
add a comment |
$begingroup$
In John Barth's novel The end of the road, whenever "the Doctor" cannot make a decision between alternatives, he resorts to three principles:
- Sinistrality ("if the alternatives are side by side, choose the one on the left")
- Antecedence ("if they're consecutive in time, choose the earlier")
- Alphabetic Priority ("choose the alternative whose name begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet")
In the current case, one can generalize these to:
- sinistrality in birthplace (western birthplaces first, eastern birthplaces last)
- antecedence in birthdate (older people first, younger people last)
- alphabetical priority by last name (ordered by last name)
Others include:
- alphabetizing by birthplace
- height
- alphabetizing by father's (or mother's or ...) first names
- ordering by driver's license number
- ordering by middle digits of social security number
- etc.
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
add a comment |
$begingroup$
In John Barth's novel The end of the road, whenever "the Doctor" cannot make a decision between alternatives, he resorts to three principles:
- Sinistrality ("if the alternatives are side by side, choose the one on the left")
- Antecedence ("if they're consecutive in time, choose the earlier")
- Alphabetic Priority ("choose the alternative whose name begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet")
In the current case, one can generalize these to:
- sinistrality in birthplace (western birthplaces first, eastern birthplaces last)
- antecedence in birthdate (older people first, younger people last)
- alphabetical priority by last name (ordered by last name)
Others include:
- alphabetizing by birthplace
- height
- alphabetizing by father's (or mother's or ...) first names
- ordering by driver's license number
- ordering by middle digits of social security number
- etc.
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
$endgroup$
In John Barth's novel The end of the road, whenever "the Doctor" cannot make a decision between alternatives, he resorts to three principles:
- Sinistrality ("if the alternatives are side by side, choose the one on the left")
- Antecedence ("if they're consecutive in time, choose the earlier")
- Alphabetic Priority ("choose the alternative whose name begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet")
In the current case, one can generalize these to:
- sinistrality in birthplace (western birthplaces first, eastern birthplaces last)
- antecedence in birthdate (older people first, younger people last)
- alphabetical priority by last name (ordered by last name)
Others include:
- alphabetizing by birthplace
- height
- alphabetizing by father's (or mother's or ...) first names
- ordering by driver's license number
- ordering by middle digits of social security number
- etc.
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
answered Dec 17 '18 at 8:17
David G. StorkDavid G. Stork
11.1k41432
11.1k41432
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
$begingroup$
Those are some good alternatives. Thanks!
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 8:33
add a comment |
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$begingroup$
You want a random permutation. A standard technique, though better suited to a computer program, is Fisher-Yates shuffle.
$endgroup$
– Jean-Claude Arbaut
Dec 17 '18 at 7:23
$begingroup$
Nice. Should be employable when the crowd isn't big (<20)
$endgroup$
– Omley
Dec 17 '18 at 7:27