Final Jeopardy! wagering analysis:
Wednesday, May 25, 2016

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Maybe I will have something to do tonight. One can always hope…

Hooray! And it’s a fun situation, too.

Buzzy Cohen (7x)	Ted Reinhold	Sarah Trowbridge
12,800	7,200	5,600

This is a classic wager-to-tie situation called first = second + third. If Buzzy wagers 1,601 to cover Ted, he risks falling to 11,199 – which, you might notice, is one dollar less than Sarah’s doubled total.

Should Buzzy add the dollar, or wager to tie if Ted goes for broke?

I would add the dollar here; the odds both he and Ted will get it right are far better than the odds that Sarah gets the lone correct response. Plus, Sarah could mis-wager, opening another possibility for Buzzy on the downside.

Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:

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Calculations

Here are the numbers:

Buzzy		Ted		Sarah
12,800		7,200		5,600
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
1,600	1,600	4,000*		5,600*

Of course, a wager-to-tie situation requires the other players to re-think their wagers. Ted should wager everything anyway, but he has particular interest in doing so here.

Before we get to the results, here is a brilliant video put together by Jennifer Morrow:

What actually happened

Buzzy		Ted		Sarah
12,800		7,200		5,600
1,601		6,000		5,600
14,401		1,200		0
min	max
1,600	1,601	7,200 !		5,600 !

Sarah did what she had to do; Ted did not. But Buzzy, who added the dollar, was the only one to respond correctly, bringing his 8-game total to $147,803.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

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THIS SPOKES-ANIMAL CREATED IN 1951 GOT A WIFE & A DAUGHTER, ANTOINETTE, IN THE 1970S

[spoiler]Who is Tony the Tiger?[/spoiler]

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