20q.jpgSo I take it the 20 Questions algorithm isn’t that complicated since Robin Burgener, the inventor of computerized version of 20Q began working on 20Q in 1988, with the game running on a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. Now, it’s available in a pocket version by Radica ($15) and online (FREE). So you wanna know how it works, eh? Well, a human brain has about one hundred trillion (100,000,000,000,000) synaptic connections. The 20Q.net online version has about ten million (10,000,000), and the pocket version has about two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000). The game uses the neural-network to choose the next question as well as deciding what to guess. The best part about the online version is that it learns! It successfully figured out a Baby Stroller in 30 questions and a Mirror in 18! If you have some spare time, grab your colleagues and play the Q20 online — it’s almost as cool as the Shocking Roulette.

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