SoullessAutomaton comments on Shut Up And Guess - Less Wrong

79 Post author: Yvain 21 July 2009 04:04AM

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Comment author: SoullessAutomaton 22 July 2009 11:08:19PM 6 points [-]

What would the penalty have to be where you're indifferent between guessing and not guessing? Obviously, when the penalty is -1 point. You guess two answers, one is correct and the other not, and your expected score is 0.

Caveat: This is only true if you have no idea at all which is correct. If you think there's a 60% chance you know the right answer, you're still better off guessing.

Comment author: Hans 22 July 2009 11:35:13PM 1 point [-]

Indeed. As a consequence, once you can narrow the answer down to two or three choices, you're always better off guessing.