Week 12 Tutorial: Defence rehearsal

A dry run of the final defence in front of three classmates whose job is to find the missing step.

27 May 2027

Before the tutorial#

Have the whole defence ready. This is a rehearsal, and rehearsing half a thing teaches you nothing about the other half.

In the tutorial#

Groups of four. One presents for ten minutes; three listen with the list of seven parts in front of them and tick them off. The first missing tick is the first question.

The most common gap is part six. People show that their change worked and forget to show that their instrument could have told them if it had not.

Where it goes wrong#

• Before and after on different seeds. Then the difference is partly the seeds. Same 51, both times, and say so out loud.
• One player. A change that helps the player you tested can do nothing for the one you did not. Show at least two.
• A change the size of the noise. If your median moved 6 s, and week 9 told you a second set of seeds moves it 8.9 s, you do not yet have a change.
• Not rerunning the lazy players. Part five is the one people skip when they are short of time, and it is the one the panel asks about.

What a finished answer looks like#

The course’s own worked change, for the shape and not for copying:

Starting hearts, 3 to 4. The 100 ms player: 12 of 51 to 23 of 51, median 101.6 s to 117.2 s, same seeds. On a second set of 51: 7 to 20, so it holds. The 50 ms player: 38 to 43. The 150 ms player: 2 to 3, so it does almost nothing for the people who needed it most. Running away: 1 win to 2. Standing still: 17.4 s to 20.6 s. No card went dead: the cheapest ban still costs 3 wins. But without pickup reach the player now wins 3 of 51.

Afterwards#

You have until the final submission to close whatever gap your group found.