Math Expert Shows Widespread Wordle Cheating for Wins

It appears that there is a five-letter term to describe the common practice among avid Wordle puzzle players as they strive to identify the target word within six attempts each day.

According to a mathematics expert, the word that describes what many avid Wordle puzzle players do daily as they attempt to find the target word within six tries is “cheat.”

James P. Dilger, who is a professor emeritus at Stony Brook University specializing in the mechanisms of anesthetic action by day and a Wordle enthusiast by night, has raised questions about the published Wordle success rates, finding them suspicious.

Wordle’s Origins and Gameplay

Wordle was created by a software engineer, Josh Wardle, as a pastime during the early days of COVID restrictions. The game requires players to guess a target five-letter word in six attempts or fewer, with feedback given after each guess (green for correct letters in the correct position, yellow for correct letters in the wrong position, and black for incorrect letters).

Initially, Wordle was played among friends and family but gained immense popularity, especially after The New York Times acquired it in January 2022. Presently, around 2 million people play Wordle daily, and it’s available in 50 languages worldwide.

Dilger’s suspicions arose when he examined the game statistics published daily by The Times. He noticed an unusually high number of players guessing the word correctly on their first attempt and decided to investigate further.

Using data covering four months of user guesses, Dilger analyzed the odds of randomly guessing the daily word, which came out to be around 0.043%, equivalent to approximately 860 players. However, the Times’ statistics consistently showed over 4,000 players making correct first guesses in each game.

Players Defying Low Odds with First Guesses

Dilger went on to emphasize that even if players excluded words already used in previous games, their odds of guessing the correct word would still be quite low, around 0.066%. Yet, this low-probability event occurred consistently every day, with some days seeing as many as 10,000 players making correct first guesses.

He also noted that it was highly unlikely that players would correctly guess words like “nanny” and “igloo” on their first try. Players have a better chance when they guess words with non-repeating characters and as many vowels as possible, which “nanny” and “igloo” do not adhere to.

Dilger concluded that these players who consistently make correct first guesses with low-probability words can be labeled as “cheaters.” However, he did not delve into the motivations behind their actions.

Despite the presence of such cheaters, Dilger acknowledged that many players still enjoy the game. He didn’t provide an explanation for why some players choose to cheat but suggested that some may do it out of frustration and feel a sense of relief or joy when they succeed with a cheat.

In summary, a mathematics expert, James P. Dilger, has brought attention to the prevalence of cheating among Wordle players, particularly those who consistently guess the correct word on their first attempt despite low odds. He found this phenomenon suspicious but did not offer a definitive explanation for why some players resort to cheating in Wordle.

Read the original article on: Phys

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