Consider the St. Petersburg paradox problem first discussed by Daniel Bernoulli in 1738.  The game consists of tossing a coin.  The player gets a payoff of 2^n where n is the number of times the coin is tossed to get the first head.  So, if the sequence of tosses yields TTTH, you get a payoff of 2^4; the payoff occurs with probability 1/2^4.  Compute the expected value of playing this game.

A First Course in Probability (10th Edition)
10th Edition
ISBN:9780134753119
Author:Sheldon Ross
Publisher:Sheldon Ross
Chapter1: Combinatorial Analysis
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1.1P: a. How many different 7-place license plates are possible if the first 2 places are for letters and...
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Consider the St. Petersburg paradox problem first discussed by Daniel Bernoulli in 1738.  The game consists of tossing a coin.  The player gets a payoff of 2^n where n is the number of times the coin is tossed to get the first head.  So, if the sequence of tosses yields TTTH, you get a payoff of 2^4; the payoff occurs with probability 1/2^4.  Compute the expected value of playing this game.

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