Question

Jack is playing a video game. There are two different types of monsters he can kill. Monster X has a 75% chance to drop loot that is worth $9.25 each. Monster Y has a 25% chance to drop loot that is worth $25.00 each. How many, if any, of Monster X's does Jack have to kill to make a better profit than Monster Y's?

Answer 1

Jack does not need to kill any additional Monster X's to achieve a better profit than Monster Y's because the expected value per kill of Monster X is already higher than that of Monster Y.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many Monster X's Jack has to kill to make a better profit than Monster Y's, we need to calculate the expected value of loot from each monster. The expected value (EV) is calculated by multiplying the value of the potential drop by the probability of that drop occurring.

For Monster X, the expected value per kill is:

EV(X) = 0.75 * $9.25 = $6.9375

For Monster Y, the expected value per kill is:

EV(Y) = 0.25 * $25.00 = $6.25

To make a better profit from Monster X than Monster Y, Jack would need to achieve a higher expected value from Monster X, but given the calculations, Jack already has a higher expected value from Monster X per kill in comparison to Monster Y. Therefore, Jack doesn't need to kill any additional Monster X's to achieve a better profit.