Spinning the Big Wheel on “The Price is Right”: A Spreadsheet Simulation Exercise

A popular game played in each broadcast of the United States television game show “The Price is Right” has contestants spinning a large wheel comprised of twenty different monetary values (in 5-cent increments from $0.05 to $1.00). A player wins by scoring closest to, without exceeding, $1.00. Pla...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Keith A Willoughby
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: McMaster University
Series:Spreadsheets in Education
Online Access:http://sie.scholasticahq.com/article/4572-spinning-the-big-wheel-on-the-price-is-right-a-spreadsheet-simulation-exercise.pdf
Description
Summary:A popular game played in each broadcast of the United States television game show “The Price is Right” has contestants spinning a large wheel comprised of twenty different monetary values (in 5-cent increments from $0.05 to $1.00). A player wins by scoring closest to, without exceeding, $1.00. Players may accomplish this in one or a total of two spins. We develop a spreadsheet modeling exercise, useful in an introductory undergraduate Spreadsheet Analytics course, to simulate the spinning of the wheel and to determine optimal spinning strategies.
ISSN:1448-6156