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Win on primes, lose half on composites from 2 to 10

Question

An integer nn is drawn uniformly from {2,3,…,10}\{2,3,\dots,10\}. If nn is prime you win nn dollars; if nn is composite you lose n/2n/2 dollars. What is the most you should pay to play? Answer 00 if you would decline to play.

Short answer

00. The primes 2,3,5,72,3,5,7 contribute +17+17 and the composites 4,6,8,9,104,6,8,9,10 contribute −18.5-18.5, so the expected value is 17−18.59=−16\tfrac{17-18.5}{9}=-\tfrac16 dollar. A game with negative expectation is not worth any entry fee, so you should not play.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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