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Deal or no Deal - the formula

Deal or no Deal - the formula

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I couldn't decide if this should go here, or in SCIENCE, or maybe even GENERAL.

Does anyone know what formula is used on that show Howie Mandel hosts, Deal or no Deal, to determine how much money the banker offers the contestant to walk away with, instead of trying for the million dollar case?

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Originally posted by PinkFloyd
I couldn't decide if this should go here, or in SCIENCE, or maybe even GENERAL.

Does anyone know what formula is used on that show Howie Mandel hosts, Deal or no Deal, to determine how much money the banker offers the contestant to walk away with, instead of trying for the million dollar case?
Beats me, but it seems like it is something around the average of all of them. That's just a wild guess from only watching a couple of shoes, so it's probably far off.

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Originally posted by PinkFloyd
I couldn't decide if this should go here, or in SCIENCE, or maybe even GENERAL.

Does anyone know what formula is used on that show Howie Mandel hosts, Deal or no Deal, to determine how much money the banker offers the contestant to walk away with, instead of trying for the million dollar case?
Million dollars? They only get offered five hundred thousand pounds here in the UK! 🙁

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Originally posted by jimslyp69
Million dollars? They only get offered five hundred thousand pounds here in the UK! 🙁
That is so wrong. What's the exchange rate again?

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Originally posted by PinkFloyd
Does anyone know what formula is used on that show Howie Mandel hosts, Deal or no Deal, to determine how much money the banker offers the contestant to walk away with, instead of trying for the million dollar case?
I made a spreadsheet that gives the expected value of the contestants case. On the SA version of the show, the banker always seemed to offer about 60% of its expected value.

The fomula for the expected value is simple. Just add up the value of the unopened cases (including the contestant's) and divide by the number of unopened cases.

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Originally posted by Gatecrasher
I made a spreadsheet that gives the expected value of the contestants case. On the SA version of the show, the banker always seemed to offer about 60% of its expected value.

The fomula for the expected value is simple. Just add up the value of the unopened cases (including the contestant's) and divide by the number of unopened cases.
So you have an unknown divided by an unknown. Wow. Now THATS a big help.🙂

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Originally posted by sonhouse
So you have an unknown divided by an unknown. Wow. Now THATS a big help.🙂
x1 + x2 + x3....etc
____________________

Y



where x equals case values remaining and Y equals the number of cases remaining.

These aren't Unknowns and it is very easy to calcuate.

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Originally posted by jimslyp69
Million dollars? They only get offered five hundred thousand pounds here in the UK! 🙁
Which at the moment is worth around $978,700. So pretty close.

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Originally posted by kfennessy
That is so wrong. What's the exchange rate again?
Under Bush? Something like 1 euro = 500,000 USD. OK, more like 1 euro = 1.2 USD

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Originally posted by scherzo
Under Bush? Something like 1 euro = 500,000 USD. OK, more like 1 euro = 1.2 USD
Just over 1.5. The dollar is weak, and the euro is very strong at the moment.

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Originally posted by mtthw
Just over 1.5. The dollar is weak, and the euro is very strong at the moment.
Ouch. I'm more behind the times on my country's economy than usual.

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Originally posted by mtthw
Just over 1.5. The dollar is weak, and the euro is very strong at the moment.
1,000,000 dollars is approx £506,739

Actually the top prize in the UK is £250,000 though.
And identical values of boxes left in different games have had differing results from the banker, leading one to believe he has some leeway and does not follow a formula strictly.

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Originally posted by kfennessy
Beats me, but it seems like it is something around the average of all of them. That's just a wild guess from only watching a couple of shoes, so it's probably far off.
Who's shoes are you watching and why?