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Given: 10 whales, 10 harpoons, no misses, random targeting, infinite number of times.
I am led to conclude that there is an equal chance that a harpooner will hit or NOT hit each whale, and the chances are all the same that he will hit or not each whale, the only certainty is that each harpooner will hit a whale, the unknown being which one.
1. Out of all possible combinations of hits and misses, there is only 1 where all ten go down. And since they always hit something, there is no possibility that all whales escape unscathed.
2. One gets hit, 9 don't. Out of all possible combinations, there are ten possibilities that 1 gets hit 10 times and the rest escape. There are 10 whales, each with an equal shot, but as far as number conbinations goes, there are ten possibilities where only 1 whale gets hit.
3. 9 whales get hit, 1 does not. Same probability as above when looked at it like this, if there are 10 possible outcomes where 9 whales DO NOT get hit, one could also say that there are ten possibilities where only 1 whale DOES get hit.
For example, if whales 1-9 get hit, then whale 10 does not. So the probability is the same, and this pattern echos up the chain as well as down.
4. 2 get hit, 8 don't. There are 45 scenerios where 2 of the 10 whales get hit and 8 do not. Thus, there are 45 scenerios where 8 get hit and 2 do not. Because if 8 get hit and there are 45 ways for that to happen, then there are 45 ways for 2 NOT to get hit.
5. The 3 and 7 combination: 120 different scenerios.
Thus, provided the following occur: all harpooners hit what they aim at, and as long as what they hit are whales, and they attack at random and they strike at the same time, and they do this a large enuff number of times, the answer is:
5.
Given: 10 whales, 10 harpoons, no misses, random targeting, infinite number of times.
I am led to conclude that there is an equal chance that a harpooner will hit or NOT hit each whale, and the chances are all the same that he will hit or not each whale, the only certainty is that each harpooner will hit a whale, the unknown being which one.
1. Out of all possible combinations of hits and misses, there is only 1 where all ten go down. And since they always hit something, there is no possibility that all whales escape unscathed.
2. One gets hit, 9 don't. Out of all possible combinations, there are ten possibilities that 1 gets hit 10 times and the rest escape. There are 10 whales, each with an equal shot, but as far as number conbinations goes, there are ten possibilities where only 1 whale gets hit.
3. 9 whales get hit, 1 does not. Same probability as above when looked at it like this, if there are 10 possible outcomes where 9 whales DO NOT get hit, one could also say that there are ten possibilities where only 1 whale DOES get hit.
For example, if whales 1-9 get hit, then whale 10 does not. So the probability is the same, and this pattern echos up the chain as well as down.
4. 2 get hit, 8 don't. There are 45 scenerios where 2 of the 10 whales get hit and 8 do not. Thus, there are 45 scenerios where 8 get hit and 2 do not. Because if 8 get hit and there are 45 ways for that to happen, then there are 45 ways for 2 NOT to get hit.
5. The 3 and 7 combination: 120 different scenerios.
Thus, provided the following occur: all harpooners hit what they aim at, and as long as what they hit are whales, and they attack at random and they strike at the same time, and they do this a large enuff number of times, the answer is:
5.
For the other... well, leibniz is on vacation so I'll convert your base 10 to base 8 (that's what birds use) and convert back and try to think like a human... hmmm, barring the sudden manifestation of a stolen Klingon Bird of Prey that deflects even perfectly shot harpoons, and assuming average intelligence of Guavan whale harpooners, then I'd say 9 whales escaped. That's because only one whale would be closest to the ship and in the best position to be struck with a harpoon and thus be the first-choice target of the harpooners. 9 whales would swim away and 1 would bristle like a porcupine and scream the whole way to whale heaven.
