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Eg: In a list of three items ("1", "2", "3") the user is asked which item is higher, 1 or 2. They select 1. They are then asked which is higher, 2 or 3. They select 3. The system then reasons: "1 is higher than 2. If 3 is lower than 2 it must logically be lower than 1 also." etc. (So that you can sort a list of items with the fewest theoretical comparisons possible.) Thanks!

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Please do not simultaneously crosspost. See here: math.stackexchange.com/questions/28752/… – cardinal Mar 24 '11 at 2:19
My first attempt was to opt for close, but now I think that the point of view of this side can lead to different solutions. Maybe on of the cases where crossposting is allowed ? E.g., this seems to be related with active learning. – steffen Mar 24 '11 at 7:26
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The OP might be best served by asking on the theoretical computer science stackexchange. This question in particular concerns constructing a total order given a directed acyclic graph, and is well-studied in the computer science literature. – charles.y.zheng Mar 24 '11 at 13:56
This topic might belong here but it is not yet possible to determine exactly what question is being asked. Please clarify it and consider posting it on a site where it might be more relevant. – whuber♦ Mar 24 '11 at 21:11

closed as not a real question by onestop, whuber♦ Mar 24 '11 at 21:11

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

up vote -1 down vote

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=max%281%2C2%2C3%29 or http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=max%28max%281%2C2%29%2C3%29

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(-1): this is not an answer and it is not even funny. The OP provided an example for the general task of automatically inferring an order from a set of examples and did not ask for solving the example problem only. – steffen Mar 24 '11 at 7:29

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