easy   Probability

Laser Game

A release-checked easy problem for training Continuous Random Variables.

Question

Mordecai has a large target of radius $10$ and a laser pointer. He is clumsy, so he points the laser at a uniformly random point on the target. Let $D$ represent the random distance from the laser to the center of the target. He offers you to play the following game: Mordecai points the laser at the target one time. Before doing so, you fix a value $0 \leq r \leq 10$. If your laser is within distance $r$ away from the center, you must pay Mordecai $\$(10-r)$. Otherwise, Mordecai pays you $\$r$. Find the value of $r$ that maximizes your expected winnings from this game.

Practice focus

This Probability problem is tagged Continuous Random Variables. State the random variables and conditioning information explicitly, then check the result against boundary cases before opening hints or a solution.

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