Evans & Fischer

When asked about the results of their blitz games, Bobby Fischer said, "We played the same number of games. Larry won two-thirds of his games and I lost only one of mine."

Larry Evans added, 'We didn't draw any games and between us the two of us won three-quarters of our games."

How many games did Larry Evans and Bobby Fischer play?

Originally posted by petrovitch
When asked about the results of their blitz games, Bobby Fischer said, "We played the same number of games. Larry won two-thirds of his games and I lost only one of mine."

Larry Evans added, 'We didn't draw any games and between us the two of us won three-quarters of our games."

How many games did Larry Evans and Bobby Fischer play?

If we let Lw and Lp be the number of games Larry won and played, respectively; and let Bw and Bp be the number of games Bobby won and played respectively; then we have the following equations.

1. Lw = (2/3)Lp
2. Lp = Bp
3. Bw = Bp-1
4. Lw + Bw = (3/4)(Lp + Bp)

Together, these entail that Lp = Bp = 6.

So each played in 6 games with Bobby going 5-1 and Larry going 4-2.

However, if your question is how many distinct games this comprises, then I think there is not enough information. For instance, there could have been as many as 12 distinct games or as few as 9 (since, given the information, Larry and Bobby could have played against each other in as many as 3 of the games).

This assumes that you are limiting the problem to only games between the two players. That isn't explicity stated.

Originally posted by coquette
This assumes that you are limiting the problem to only games between the two players. That isn't explicity stated.

Who on earth are you talking to? No one in this thread has made any such assumption. I even basically stated that there is not enough information to figure out how many, if any, of the games I consider were "games between the two players" (if, by that, you mean games where the two played each other).

At any rate, the opening problem statement is ambiguous. Is he asking for Lp (which also equals Bp)? Is he asking for the value of (Lp + Bp)? Or is he asking for the number of distinct games (for which, again, there's not enough information)? Or is he asking for the number of games where the two played each other (for which there's also not enough information)?

Originally posted by LemonJello
Who on earth are you talking to? No one in this thread has made any such assumption. I even basically stated that there is not enough information to figure out how many, if any, of the games I consider were "games between the two players" (if, by that, you mean games where the two played each other).

At any rate, the opening problem statement is am ...[text shortened]... er of games where the two played each other (for which there's also not enough information)?

maybe he was refering to the post above which is empty now and has 1 edit. first think, then shoot 😉

Originally posted by crazyblue
maybe he was refering to the post above which is empty now and has 1 edit. first think, then shoot 😉

Uh, no. Those two posts are spaced ~23 hours apart, whereas you only get an hour or so to edit.

Maybe you should take your own advice.

Lemon Jello sounds very sour, to me.

I have no idea who on earth I am talking to. Maybe I even got something completely wrong. That happens a lot. I won't bother trying to figure it out though. I'm sure I messed up.