[Math] Basic probability : the frog riddle – what are the chances

probabilitypuzzle

A few days ago I was watching this video The frog riddle and I have been thinking a lot about this riddle.

In this riddle you are poisoned and need to lick a female frog to survive.
There are 2 frogs behind you and basically, you have to find what are your chances to find a least one female in these two frogs (you can lick both of them).
The only thing is : you know one of them is a male (because your heard the croak) but you don't know witch one.

The video solves the problem with conditional probability and explains that you have a 2/3 chance of getting a female.
(on the four possibilities MM / MF / FM / FF, knowing there is a male eliminates FF)

Here is my question :
If you see which one is a male (for example the frog on the left is a male) what are your chances to survive ?
Is it 1/2 ? because we only have two possibilities (MM or MF) with probability 1/2.
Is it still 2/3 because the position does not matter ?

Bonus question : If it is 1/2, then if close your eyes and the frogs can move, is it still 1/2 or does it comes back to 2/3 ?

Similar problem : If I have two children, and I know one is a son, then I have a 67% chance to have a daughter. But if I know the oldest one is a son, then I have a 50% chance to have a daughter. Is it exactly the same problem here ?

Can you please explain this to me ?

Best Answer

The answer that @Lordofdark linked to is very interesting. In addition to the matter of the probability of croaking, there are other factors to consider. For instance, the problem doesn't specify whether the sex of the frogs is independent. For all we know, male frogs might never be found alone, so we should definitely lick the solitary frog. Or perhaps it's mating season and pairs of frogs are always male/female. Perhaps male frogs only croak when they're around females. Or...

Simply put, there is not enough information to go on. A mathematician lost in the jungle will probably die from taking too long to consider the possibilities.

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