My brother made me read one of his exercises from the Artificial Intelligence course and I’ve never been so baffled before. It’s... a wild ride. Gotta share it with you guys. And keep in mind this somehow is a university level exercise (most probably written by the teacher):
Exercise 4. Dangerous Piercings.
Luis Ángel, a 14 years old young man faces the following problem: he’s in love, but she (María Fernanda) ignores him. He thinks he knows the reason. María Fernanda is only impressed by boys who have piercings. Therefore Luis Ángel considers having some piercings done. The problem is that Luis Ángel lives in a remote hamlet and has no money to pay a trip to the city and have his piercings done by an expert, so his only option is to ask his aunt Robustiana, of 68 years of age and who in her youth worked sewing sacks for a grain storehouse. Luis Ángel is a very calculating boy, so he evaluates with precision the risks and benefits inherent to getting or not the piercings done.
He knows that if he asks out María Fernanda without having any piercing, the probability of her saying yes is of 10%. However, with a single piercing is of 30%, with two piercings is of 80% and with three piercings is of 90%. Luis Ángel doesn’t think Robustiana will live long enough to do more than three piercings. Luis Ángel knows that once he asks María Fernanda out, she won’t ever change her mind. For that reason, Luis Ángel assigns a value of +500 to achieving having her say yes (he won’t ever again think about piercings from then on) and assigns a value of -100 to her saying no (he thinks he’ll commit suicide without her love).
Every time Luis Ángel decides to get a piercing, there’s an 80% chance the outcome will be good, a 10% chance of being bedridden for 3 weeks and waking up without a piercing (to which he assigns a value of -20, since it will be a painful hassle and delays him in his objective of gaining María Fernanda’s love) and a 10% chance of dying (to which he assigns a value of -90, since he’ll die without knowing if she would have accepted him/his proposal).
Original in Spanish:
Problema 4. Piercings peligrosos.
Luis Ángel, un joven de 14 años se enfrenta al siguiente problema: está enamorado, pero ella (María Fernanda) le ignora. El cree saber la razón. María Fernanda únicamente se deja impresionar por chicos que lleven piercings. Por lo tanto Luis Ángel se plantea hacerse unos cuantos piercings. El problema es que Luis Ángel vive en una aldea retirada y no tiene dinero para pagarse un viaje a la ciudad para que le haga los piercings un experto, así que su única opción es pedírselo a su tía Robustiana, de 68 años y que de joven trabajó cosiendo sacos para un almacén de grano. Luis Ángel es un chico muy calculador, así que evalúa con exactitud los riesgos y beneficios inherentes a hacerse o no piercings.
Él sabe que si le pide salir a María Fernanda sin hacerse ningún piercing, la probabilidad de que le diga que sí es de un 10%. En cambio con un piercing es de un 30%, con dos piercings del 80% y con tres piercings del 90%. Luis Ángel cree que Robustiana no vivirá suficiente como para hacerle más de 3 piercings. Luis Ángel sabe que una vez le pida salir a María Fernanda, ella no cambiará nunca más de opinión. Por eso, Luis Ángel le da un valor de +500 a conseguir que le diga que si (nunca más volverá a pensar en piercings a partir de ese momento) y un valor de -100 si le dice que no (piensa que se suicidará sin su amor).
Cada vez que Luis Ángel decide hacerse un piercing, tiene un 80% de posibilidades de que salga bien, un 10% de posibilidades de pasar 3 semanas en cama y despertarse sin piercing (a lo que asigna un valor de -20, dado que lo pasa mal y le retrasa en su objetivo de hacerse con el amor de María Fernanda) y un 10% de posibilidades de morir (a lo que asigna un valor de -90, dado que morirá sin saber si ella le hubiera aceptado).
