googol
Games
educational browser game
SHOW HN2019
How HN took it
2 positive, 8 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 10 critical, out of 20 comments about the project. Thread score -0.42.
Design: 1 for, 5 againstIdea: 1 for, 3 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Good way to learn the concept
From 2 comments
Very interesting, especially the video :pray: (actual game does not look at all like the screenshot on mac/chrome)
h1fra on HNHaving a button to toggle on/off rounded e-notation (e.g. 1.2365479e+45) could make comparison easier as well. Nice job with this, I learned something new today :)
cyode on HN
Objections
Number generation is biased toward smaller numbers
From 2 comments
The distribution of numbers is not uniform across the 0..googol here. The implementation first chooses the length of the number, then fills in the digits. This makes it biased…
trisiak on HNConsider a two digit number. With this algorithm, half of the numbers generated will be less than 10, and half will be 11-99. Likewise with the full 100 digits this algorithm has…
fourthark on HN
Large numbers are hard to compare visually
From 2 comments
All of these huge numbers are basically un-comparable ergonomically to me. Why not make the distribution 1-10k instead?
sneak on HNConsider using a monospace font. It is difficult to tell how large one number is relative to another when each digit has a different width
iakh on HN
Optimal stopping strategy fails for known distributions
From 2 comments
It isn't optimal for known distributions. If you're sampling from a normal distribution with known parameters, and the first of 100 samples is 5 standard deviations above the…
repsilat on HNThe distribution chosen here is ~ uniform for the number of digits. (https://github.com/victorqribeiro/googol/blob/master/js/main.js#L10 ) This is not the same hypothesis as the…
GistNoesis on HN
Interface is confusing with multiple buttons
From 2 comments
Agreed. Also, there is really no reason to have multiple boxes you have to click. You could just have a single "next" button along with a counter to show how many choices you…
hmexx on HNYeah that confused me too. 'Next' button along with '# samples left' display would be much clearer. Also, if the largest drawn so far were highlighted, manual play would be easier.
OJFord on HN
Requests
Use monospace font
From 1 comment
Consider using a monospace font. It is difficult to tell how large one number is relative to another when each digit has a different width
iakh on HN
Use a single Next button with a counter
From 1 comment
Agreed. Also, there is really no reason to have multiple boxes you have to click. You could just have a single "next" button along with a counter to show how many choices you…
hmexx on HN
Highlight the largest number drawn so far
From 1 comment
Yeah that confused me too. 'Next' button along with '# samples left' display would be much clearer. Also, if the largest drawn so far were highlighted, manual play would be easier.
OJFord on HN
Use comma separators and right-align numbers
From 1 comment
Comma's would be friendlier than decimal groupings for North American users; also right-aligning would be nice.
rkagerer on HN
Questions
How does this relate to the post?
From 1 comment
I don't get it sorry. How does this relate with the OP?
ajushi on HN
What is the goal and how do you win?
From 1 comment
I don’t understand, could some one explain? What am I trying to do in this game? And how do I win?
smabie on HN
Alternatives named
Secretary problem as described in Wikipedia and the linked video
From 2 comments
This is the Secretary Problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem
shaftoe on HNDid you watch the video? It does a very good job explaining the theory tested on the game.
atum47 on HN