Three Slips of Paper Puzzler - Not Monty Hall

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Here’s my thought:



Pick one number. Set it aside.



Pick a second number. If bigger than the first, keep it. If smaller, pick the third.



By discarding the first, you change the odds to 1/2. If the second is bigger than the first, then it’s 1/2 that the second will be bigger than the third. If the second is smaller than the first, the odds are 1/2 that the third will be bigger than the first.

2

Edited for clarity:

Here’s my thought:

Pick one number. Set it aside.

Pick a second number. If bigger than the first, keep it. If smaller, pick the third.

By discarding the first, you change the odds to 1/2. If the second is bigger than the first, we no longer care about the first, so the probability is 1/2 that the second will be bigger than the third. If the second is smaller than the first, we no longer care about the second, and the probability is 1/2 that the third will be bigger than the first.

Needless to say I meant to post this in the Show section. Flagged my topic to see if it would go away.