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How to Lose with Least Probability

Probability 2011-12-15 v2 Computer Science and Game Theory Combinatorics

Abstract

Two players alternate tossing a biased coin where the probability of getting heads is p. The current player is awarded alpha points for tails and alpha+beta for heads. The first player reaching n points wins. For a completely unfair coin the player going first certainly wins. For other coin biases, the player going first has the advantage, but the advantage depends on the coin bias. We calculate the first player's advantage and the coin bias minimizing this advantage.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1112.2117,
  title  = {How to Lose with Least Probability},
  author = {Robert W. Chen and Burton Rosenberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1112.2117},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

15 pages, 6 tables of values, 2 Mathematica programs, version 2

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:48:53.498Z