Exercises: Find the Expected Payoff for a Game of Chance
Work through each section in order. The payoff of an outcome is its NET value: the prize received minus the cost to play. The cost to play is subtracted from EVERY outcome, win or lose. The expected payoff is the sum of each net payoff times its probability. Its sign classifies the game: favorable to the player if positive, fair if zero, unfavorable if negative. Always include the "win nothing" outcome and make the probabilities sum to 1.
Fluency Practice
Build the signed net-payoff table when asked, then compute and classify the expected payoff.
A game has three outcomes. You know two of the probabilities: winning the big prize has probability and winning the small prize has probability . The third outcome is winning nothing. What is the probability of winning nothing? (Give a decimal or fraction.) ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲