4 ms·
> Why state it that there's a 1/2 chance you win $1? It doesn't seem to help answer the problem because assuming you're playing you will always always win $1. T
by jackcarter 8y ago
> Why state it that there's a 1/2 chance you win $1? It doesn't seem to help answer the problem because assuming you're playing you will always always win $1. The reason they say this (I think) is that there's really a 50% chance you win $1 and a 50% chance you win $2.
There is a 50% chance of winning exactly $1. There's a 25% chance of winning exactly $2. It sounds like you might be interpreting it to mean "at least $1" instead of "exactly $1".
- tr33house 8y agoUnderstanding this really helped me understand probability in college. The __exactly__ is the difference
- pseudoramble 8y agoThanks - This is exactly what I was doing thinking back on it! I found it surprising because I landed on the same answer they did even with my misunderstanding of the statement. Ultimately I ended up figuring out this sequence: > 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ... = 2 But this now seems like I got kind of lucky, and it might not always hold up generally.