You don’t need to be a Jeopardy fan to solve this math problem. Try it!
==============
Last night, Jeopardy stated running a special tournament head-to-head matching former super-champs Ken Jennings (longest winning streak – 74 games), Brad Rutter (most winnings including special tournaments) and James Holzhauer.
James Holzhauer – a professional gambler – won $2,714,416 in his 33 appearances. His $82,255 average daily winnings uber-eclipsed other Jeopardy contestants.
See our prior post How a “professional sports gambler” is disrupting Jeopardy for a recap of his strategy
I was chatting with a friend who is a Jeopardy fan and former insurance industry exec. The question on the table was whether Jeopardy has an insurance policy to cover a runaway daily winner like Holzhauer. If yes, what’s the insurance risk?
Analytically, that led to today’s math problem: What’s the most that a contestant can win on one show?
For reference, Holzhauer won more than $100,000 five times … his best day ($131,127) is an all time Jeopardy record. A typical Jeopardy winner hauls in about $25,000 per show.
Today, I’ll set-up the problem. Again, you don’t have to be a Jeopardy fan or know the rules. I’ll tell you all that you need to know to solve the problem.
The Homa Files 