Chapter 17, Problem 1MC

To determine

The expected value of guessing.

Explanation of Solution

The expected value of guessing (EG) can be calculated as follows:

$\begin{array}{c}\text{EG}=\left(\frac{{\text{Option}}_{\text{Correct}}}{{\text{Option}}_{\text{Total}}}\times {\text{Award}}_{\text{Correct}}\right)+\left(\frac{{\text{Option}}_{\text{In correct}}}{{\text{Option}}_{\text{Total}}}\times {\text{Award}}_{\text{In correct}}\right)\\ =\left(\frac{\text{1}}{\text{5}}\times \text{1}\right)+\left(\frac{\text{4}}{\text{5}}\times \left(-0.25\right)\right)\\ =0\end{array}$

The expected value of guessing is 0. Thus, option ‘d’ is correct.