One rainy Saturday evening some years ago in lower Manhattan, Jane, a\nticket girl, rushed into the booth of\nthe Roxy movie theatre to prepare things for the night shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As usual, Eusebio, the evening shift ticket seller, had left the booth\nin a mess, with an ashtray full of thin butts, and Jane was shocked to see the\ncash register empty \u2013 no bills to give change with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane looked up to see some Japanese tourists lining up to buy tickets\nfor the five-dollar late movie of the evening \u201cThe Seven Samurai\u201d, when a toothy,\nsmiling and bowing Japanese who seemed to be the tour guide stuck his face in into\nthe ticket window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKon’nichiwa, me Mr. Fujimori. We ten tourist from Osaka, see samurai\nmovie. Half have 10 dollar bill, other half have five dollar bill. You give\nchange, buy ticket, no problem, ok?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSure, Mr. Fujimori, I\u2019ll do what I can to give you all correct change,\u201d\nsaid Jane politely, feeling a mounting panic, knowing that the cashbox was\nempty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat shall I do, what shall I do\u2026\u201d spun around in her head, \u201cWhat if\nthe first person to buy a ticket gives me a ten dollar bill? I won\u2019t have any\nchange to give back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Jane got a bright idea, which she implemented with the aid of Mr.\nFujimori, and all tickets were sold with correct change given so that Jane\nended up with fifty dollars in the till.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What would you say was the bright\nidea Jane got to solve this problem?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What would be the probability of\nsuccessfully terminating each ticket transaction without any problems giving change\nif the Japanese in the queue had been lined up at random?<\/em><\/p>\nShare this:<\/h3>