How to pick a winning hand every time  Never play rock, paper,
scissors with a mathematician. Well, not until you have heard
what Simon Singh has to say   • The Guardian,  This Saturday,
hundreds of competitors will gather in Toronto for the rock,
paper, scissors (RPS) world championships. Now into its third
year, the championships have become the highlight in the rock,
paper, scissors calendar, with teams travelling from all over
the globe to pit their wits against the finest exponents of the
sport.  The rules are simple. Two players count "1 ... 2 ... 3
... Go!" and then offer up their hand in one of three ways: rock
(clenched fist), paper (open, flat hand), or scissors
(forefinger and middle finger form a 'V'). The winner is decided
according to the rules that rock blunts scissors (rock wins),
scissors cut paper (scissors win), and paper covers rock (paper
wins). If the weapons are the same, then the game is a tie.  The
game has suffered criticism from outsiders, who claim that it is
an entirely artificial