Of course, the "right" answer requires you to (first) determine what the question is really asking: "What do you mean by 'how am I doing' and what do you mean by 'today' ?"
If we have any trial lawyers on the list, they can probably give numerous examples of real-life situations where the vague wording of a question, or the clear wording of a question, produces different answers in court testimony, to the advantage or disadvantage of the client. The classic example being "do you still beat your wife", but less humorous examples abound.
Any question that is not crystal clear presents this dilemma, and even some questions that ARE crystal clear:
"What time is it?"
"You mean now? Here?"
If you don't want to clarify the question, you can just pick any one answer and be "correct", or you can provide all the details that various clarifications might provide -- "Well, if by 'how am I doing today' you really mean 'am I winning or losing for this trip at this moment', then the answer is... if you really mean... " and so on, including all the implications of time passing, taking a break, going to sleep, and so on.
But the question is purely hypothetical, as every married gambler knows that when your spouse asks "how are you doing" the answer is always "I'm winning" or "I'm about even" (this is a joke -- partially).
--BG
=====================
> 7a. The Impossible Question
> Posted by: "Frank" frank@progressivevp.com
> frankkneeland
> Date: Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:29 pm ((PDT))
>
> In line with our current discussion about how people
> perceive their results in discreet slices of time that begin
> and end primarily in their own minds. I have constructed the
> following thought experiment. Hope you like it.
>
> The Impossible Question
>
> You're in Las Vegas for a three day vacation. It's about
> five o'clock in the afternoon of your second day in Vegas.
> You saunter into your hotel room whereupon your significant
> other asks you a simple question, "How are you doing today
> in the casino?". Your goal is to answer as truthfully as
> possible without confabulation or obfuscation. There is no
> need to sugar coat the truth or deceive, as you budgeted
> appropriately for the trip. You simply need to answer
> the question accurately. Why should this be difficult? Well,
> I'm getting to that.
>
> Here's your data:
>
> You arrived yesterday afternoon at 4PM and played your
> favorite machine from 5PM-7PM until dinner time and lost
> $200. After dinner you resumed play on the same machine and
> played for six hours straight, losing $600. However, during
> this six hours of continuous play on the same machine the
> date changed halfway through. Before midnight you were only
> down $200. After midnight you lost an additional $400. At
> 4AM you went to bed for the night and only slept 3 hours,
> returning to your machine at 8AM after a quick breakfast.
> During this play session you made back +$100 and then, still
> tired from your long night, decided to lie down for a quick
> nap, which turned into 2 hours and fifty minutes. Upon
> rising from your nap you again returned to your favorite
> machine and hit a Royal, winning $700 after losses and a
> tip, before your date with destiny and the impossible
> question your loved one was about to ask.
>
> "How are you doing today in the casino?"
>
> Here's a list of the data points:
> 1.Afternoon first day = -200
> 2.After dinner before midnight -200 (part of continuous 6
> hours session)
> 3.After midnight = -400 (part of continuous 6 hours
> session)
> 4.After going to sleep for 3 hours = +100
> 5.After 2 hour 50 min nap = +700
>
> The obvious problem here is figuring out when your "day"
> started. You did not go to bed before midnight and get up in
> the morning, and so have two totally different time scales
> working in opposition. You could use when you went to sleep
> and when you got up as the start of your day. But if we are
> using sleep as a determiner of when your day started, then
> your nap was only ten minutes shorter than your "sleep for
> the night".
>
> Please list a single one sentence numerical answer for the
> question.
>
> Example: I'm up $X today honeybee.
>
> Then list all your thought processes and justify your
> answer in as much detail as you can muster.
>
> There is no right or wrong answer to the question itself;
> This is about the justifications.
>
> ~FK
