Can you solve the basketball riddle? - Dan Katz
441,425 Views
364 Questions Answered
TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
You’ve spent months creating a basketball-playing robot, the Dunk-O-Matic, and you’re excited to demonstrate its capabilities. Until you read an advertisement: “See the Dunk-O-Matic face human players and automatically adjust its skill to create a fair game for every opponent!” That’s not what you were told to create. Can you recalibrate your robot to make it a fair match? Dan Katz shows how.
Suppose that instead of shooting one basket per round, each player will shoot twice in each round, and the winner is the first player to make both of their baskets in a single round. (If they make only one shot in a round, they do not get credit for it later.) If the human probability is p, what should the Dunk-O-Matic’s probability be? If you increase the number of shots required per round, could you create a fair match even if p is 90%?
Sign in to answer questionAbout TED-Ed Animations
TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »
Meet The Creators
- Educator Dan Katz
- Director Igor Coric, Artrake Studio
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Music Cem Misirlioglu, Greg Chudzik
- Sound Designer Cem Misirlioglu
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Produced by Anna Bechtol, Sazia Afrin
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
