I was watching a Jeopardy from 2004 (The Game Show Channel is rerunning Ken Jennings streak) and the following question raises a good question.
The contestants where Ken, Jerry, Jennifer.
In Double Jeopardy there was a category Biblical Name The Same.
The clue was three last names (e.g., Driver, Sandler, West) and the correct response is a biblical name that is the first name of people with that last name (Adam: Adam Driver, Adam Sandler, Adam West).
What happened with Biblical Name The Same for 1200 shows an issue with the question.
Clue: Stewart, Graham, Grimes.
Jerry said James. This was ruled incorrect.
Ken said Martha. This is correct.
Why is Martha Correct:
Martha Stewart is a well known TV personality focusing on home and hospitality.
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer, teacher, and choreographer (she died in 1991).
Martha Grimes is an American writer of detective fiction.
Frankly, the only one I heard of was Martha Stewart.
But later they decided Jerry was right and gave him the points (Ken kept his points). Here was Jerry's argument:
James Stewart was a well known actor (died in 1997).
James Graham- the show said he was a British General in the 17th Century. I (Bill, not Jerry) looked up James Graham on Wikipedia- there are a lot of them. Four were under the category Military. Of those, two were British. Neither was a General. One lived 1649-1730 so it may be him.
James Grimes-the show said he was a Senator involved with the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. I (Bill) looked it up- Grimes was a Republican and it was his party that was trying to impeach, but he (and six other Republicans) broke rank and voted for acquittal. He and the others were bothered that the process had been manipulated. There were rumors they were bribed with patronage jobs or cash though I could not tell if this was true.
The category is problematic.
It is implicit that the three people have to be famous.
This raises two questions and a challenge
Two Questions: What is fame? How do you measure it?
Challenges: Let x,y \(\ge\) 2.
Find x last names L1,...Lx such that there are y first names F1,...,Fy
with F1-L1, F1-L2,...,F1-Lx famous AND
F2-L1, F2-L2,..., F2-Lx famous AND
DOT DOT DOT
Fy-L1, Fy-L2,...,Fy-Lx famous.
For the example above x=3 and y=2. You either try the easier case x=2, y=2, or a harder case like x=3, y=3.
