The Successive Wins Problem
A Simple Little Probability Problem dealing with often confused expected values and intuition.
Image credit: Me
I fortuitously ran into one of my old friend, who instigated my interest in probability puzzles once again. This time not just with a problem but an entire collection of it. So, I decided to devote some time and effort to create a series of blog posts to bring them to you accompanied by their solution. If you are interested about this series follow me to stay tuned. You can also contribute your problems or solutions to this series, by reaching me out on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or Email.
The problem goes like this…
To encourage Elmer’s promising tennis career, his father offers him a prize if he wins (at least) two tennis sets in a row in a three-set series to be played with his father and the club champion alternately: father-champion-father (FCF) or champion-father-champion (CFC), according to Elmer’s choice. The champion is a better player than Elmer’s father. Which series should Elmer choose? Assume that Elmer stops playing when he has satisfied the winning rule or cannot satisfy the winning rule anymore.
Read my detailed solution at: The Successive Wins Problem
Rishi Dey Chowdhury
Master of Statistics
My research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and their applications in Computer Vision and NLP.