You look at a carnival game. The person running it says, "Just reach your hand into this bag. There are 9 yellow balls and 1 red ball in the bag. You get 4 chances to pull out the red ball. (You have to put the ball you drew back before you draw another ball.) You only have to pay one dollar to play, and you get 3 dollars if you pull out the red ball!"

Assuming the person running the game is telling the truth, and the balls only differ in color, would you expect to make a net profit or a net loss on this game?

Although I agree that common sense says you can only win once per try, at no point does it actually say you can only win $3 per 4 tries. It says you get 4 chances, and you put the ball you drew back. So, in theory you can win $12 dollars in one go. Which makes if definetly worthwhile.

Posted by Dacre on 2003-09-22 08:12:49