HMMT 1999 O9
- Oral
- Answer
You are somewhere on a ladder with 5 rungs. You have a fair coin and an envelope that contains either a double-headed coin or a double-tailed coin, each with probability . Every minute you flip a coin. If it lands heads you go up a rung, if it lands tails you go down a rung. If you move up from the top rung you win, if you move down from the bottom rung you lose. You can open the envelope at any time, but if you do then you must immediately flip that coin once, after which you can use it or the fair coin whenever you want. What is the best strategy (i.e. on what rung(s) should you open the envelope)?
Dataset text NuminaMath olympiads. Quoted with source.
Show the answer
open\ the\ envelope\ iff\ we\ are\ on\ the\ bottom\ rung
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