Riddler on FiveThirtyEight - Dec 22, 2015

riddler.py

import random
import numpy

N = 2000
Nt = 100000

times = []
nomatch = 0
for i in range(Nt):
    my_tasks = []
    her_tasks = []
    for j in range(N):
        my_tasks.append(int(random.uniform(0,1)*5+1))
        her_tasks.append(int(random.uniform(0,1)*5+1))

    mytot = numpy.cumsum(my_tasks)
    hertot = numpy.cumsum(her_tasks)
    inds = numpy.arange(N)
    try:
        ind = (inds[mytot == hertot])[0]
        times.append(mytot[ind])
    except:
        nomatch += 1

print "Mean amount of time until we eat: {0:.0f} minutes.".format(numpy.median(times))
print "Median amount of time until we eat: {0:.0f} minutes.".format(numpy.median(times))
print "Never ate within {0} minutes for {1}/{2} trials.".format(N,nomatch,Nt)