Julia Lipson L&S Sciences
Investigation of Parrondo's Paradox
Imagine a person plays two games, Game A and Game B, each with a higher probability of losing than winning, in some sequence. A possible sequence might be Game A, followed by Game B, followed by Game A, etc. Surely, playing any sequence of these two games will result in an overall loss. Against intuition, this turns out not to be the case. In fact, by playing these games in certain sequences, over time a player will experience an overall increase in capital. This phenomenon is called Parrondos Paradox, a mathematical concept that is proving to have applications in numerous different fields including game theory, financial risk, genetics, and physics. The goal of my research would be to investigate this paradox. New findings could lead to computer application tools that would be implemented into computer programs used to minimize risk in financial transactions, medical decisions, and other sciences.