Did You Find Out? Get the Answer to the Riddle of E-News Issue No. 5, November 2020
Penalty Shoot-Out
Find out the probability that player B will win!
Two soccer players compete in a penalty shoot-out. Player A scores every other shot, and player B scores every third shot. They take turns shooting until one of them scores a goal.
What is the probability that player B will win, if he goes first?
Solution
The probability that B will win is 50%. You can see this in the following diagram. There are three possibilities per round:
- B scores
- B misses
- neither of them scores a goal (standoff)
Every result has a probability of 1/3. If the match ends in a standoff, it starts over with the same probabilities for the three possible results.
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