Surviving a Very Specific Alien Abduction or, an Introduction to Error Correcting Codes

Abhijit Mudigonda, University of Chicago

Abstract

You and your N-1 friends are abducted by aliens and forced to play a game. Each of you receive, uniformly at random, a red or blue beskar helmet. Everyone can see everyone else’s helmets but not their own. When a buzzer rings, you must simultaneously each either stay silent or correctly state the color of your helmet. You all win if every person who guessed a color was correct and at least one person guessed a color. How often can you win this game? Is this game just a popularity contest? Why are error correcting codes in the title? Is there a limit to how many times baby Yoda can appear in a slide deck? On Wednesday, we will answer all these questions and more!

Date
Oct 5, 2022 12:30 PM — 1:30 PM
Event
Theory Lunch
Location
JCL 298

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