Chapter 2: Q.2.26 - Problems (page 50)

The game of craps is played as follows: A player rolls two dice. If the sum of the dice is either a2,3,or12, the player loses; if the sum is either a 7or an 11, the player wins. If the outcome is anything else, the player continues to roll the dice until she rolls either the initial outcome or a 7. If the 7comes first, the player loses, whereas if the initial outcome reoccurs before the 7appears, the player wins. Compute the probability of a player winning at craps.

Hint: Let Eidenote the event that the initial outcome is iand the player wins. The desired probability is i=1212P(Ei). To compute P(Ei), define the events Ei,nto be the event that the initial sum is i and the player wins on the nth roll. Argue that

P(Ei)=n=1P(Ei,n)

Short Answer

Expert verified

2444950.4929

Step by step solution

01

Step-1 Given Information

Given In the game of craps a player rolls two dice.

Criteria 1: At the initial trial if the sum is 2,3,or12this is a loss if the sum is 7or 11this is a win if the sum is 4,5,6,8,9or 10go to the second criteria.

Criteria 2: Roll repeatedly until the sum is the same as in the initial (first) roll or sum is 7. If the sum is 7this is a loss, if the sum is as in the initial roll this is a win.

we have to find the probability of a player winning at craps.

02

Step-2 Explanation

Assume that the dice are fair.

Let event Eiis that the player wins with initial outcome iand let Ei,nis the event that the initial outcome is iand the player wins on nthtrial.

Therefore,

P(Win)=i=212P(Ei)

Because every game can be divided with regard to the outcome of the first throw, and each of those events is mutually exclusive.

The same thing can be applied when calculating the probability ofEi, if a player wins (with an initial outcome i) in 1,2,3...rolls, and those are all possible, and mutually exclusive. Hence,

P(Ei)=n=1P(Ei,n)

From the rules of the game,

localid="1650263600860" P(E2)=P(E3)=P(E12)=0P(E7)=636=16,P(E12)=236=118,

To calculate P(Ei,n):

The event Ei,nmeans that the nthoutcome was i, and neither outcome ior7appears before (except the first throw which is i) then the player would either win before or lose.

If the probability of the initial outcome is xi36, there are xipossible ways of getting the outcome i. There are 6out of 36rolls with sum 7. Therefore 36-6-xi=30-xipossibilities where the outcomes are neither 7ori

The event Ei,nwill occur if the first and the last roll should be iand the remaining n-2rolls should be neither 7ori. So the possibilities are xi.(30-xi)n-2. The total possible outcomes are 36n.

hence,

localid="1650263636397" P(Ei,n)=xi.(30-xi)n-2.xi36n=xi36230-xi36n-2

Thus,

localid="1650263648699" P(Ei)=n=2xi36230-xi36n-2=xi36.xi(6+xi),i4,5,6,8,9,10P(win)=I=212P(Ei)2444950.4929

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Most popular questions from this chapter

If it is assumed that all525 poker hands are equally likely, what is the probability of being dealt

(a)a flush? (A hand is said to be a flush if all 5cards are of the same suit.)

(b)one pair? (This occurs when the cards have denominations a,a,b,c,d,where a,b,c,anddare all distinct.)

(c)two pairs? (This occurs when the cards have denominations a,a,b,b,c,where a,b,and care all distinct.)

(d)three of a kind? (This occurs when the cards have denominations a,a,a,b,c,where a,b,and care all distinct.)

(e)four of a kind? (This occurs when the cards have denominationsa,a,a,a,b)

An urn contains Mwhite and Nblack balls. If a random sample of size ris chosen, what is the probability that it contains exactly kwhite balls?

Consider the matching problem, Example5m, and define it to be the number of ways in which theNmen can select their hats so that no man selects his own.

Argue thatAN=(N1)(AN-1+AN-2). This formula, along with the boundary conditionsA1=0,A2=1, can then be solved forAN, and the desired probability of no matches would be AN/N!.

Hint: After the first man selects a hat that is not his own, there remain N1men to select among a set of N1hats that do not contain the hat of one of these men. Thus, there is one extra man and one extra hat. Argue that we can get no matches either with the extra man selecting the extra hat or with the extra man not selecting the extra hat.

Two dice are thrown. Let Ebe the event that the sum of the dice is odd, let Fbe the event that at least one of the dice lands on 1, and let Gbe the event that the sum is 5. Describe the eventslocalid="1649252717741" EF,EF,FG,EFc,andEFG.

Two balls are chosen randomly from an urn containing8white,4 black, and2 orange balls. Suppose that we win \(2for each black ball selected and we lose \)1for each white ball selected. Let Xdenote our winnings. What are the possible values of X, and what are the probabilities associated with each value?

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