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Can you solve the fantasy election riddle? - Dennis E. Shasha

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TEDEd Animation

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After much debate, the realm has decided dragon jousting may not be the best way to choose its leaders, and has begun transitioning to democracy. Your company was hired to survey the citizens of the land and predict which candidate will win. There’s a lot riding on this: if you get it wrong, heads— well, your head— will quite literally roll. Can you predict the winner? Dennis Shasha shows how.

The puzzle shows how to make pollees more comfortable because they won’t have to reveal their true preferences to pollsters while keeping the accuracy of the polls high. But a deeper problem is that potential pollees refuse to talk with pollsters either because they are busy or they dislike the whole idea of polling. What is a good way to incentivize people to answer pollees?

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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Dennis E. Shasha
  • Director Igor Coric, Artrake Studio
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma

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