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Precalculus
Course: Precalculus > Unit 7
Lesson 2: Using matrices to represent dataUsing matrices to represent data: Payoffs
Matrices are basically tables of numeric values. But you may be surprised at how many real-world situations you can model with this structure. Here, for example, we represent a game's payoffs: we represent the points each player gets in an elaborate version of rock, paper, scissors. Created by Sal Khan.
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I am confused by this matrix, but mainly the dot list. Could someone explain it please?
Also, I am the first to ask a question on this video(4 votes)
You should go watch some videos or books about Game Theory, it will help you understand. Meanwhile, Game Theory is perhaps the subject that uses Matrix the most(2 votes)
- Can someone explain how Sal's using expected values to figure out the outcomes?(1 vote)
Since Lennox chooses randomly between Rock, Paper and Scissors we could expect that over a large amount of games she would play each of the shapes roughly the same amount of times.
For example, if they played the game 6,000 times we could expect Lennox to have played Rock about 2,000 times, Paper about 2,000 times, and Scissors about 2,000 times.
Now, let's say that Violet always plays Paper.
Then, from the matrix we would see that after 6,000 games she could expect to have a total score of about
2,000⋅2 + 2,000⋅0 + 2,000⋅(−1) = 2,000
Thus, the expected value per game would be 2,000∕6,000 = 1∕3
– – –
We can generalize this idea by saying that they play 𝑛 games.
Then we could expect Lennox to play Rock 𝑛∕3 times, Paper 𝑛∕3 times, and Scissors 𝑛∕3 times.
Violet, always playing paper, could then expect a total score of
𝑛∕3⋅2 + 𝑛∕3⋅0 + 𝑛∕3⋅(−1)
And the expected value per game would be
(𝑛∕3⋅2 + 𝑛∕3⋅0 + 𝑛∕3⋅(−1))∕𝑛
= 1∕3⋅2 + 1∕3⋅0 + 1∕3⋅(−1)
This corresponds to
𝑃(Rock)⋅𝑆(Rock) + 𝑃(Paper)⋅𝑆(Paper) + 𝑃(Scissors)⋅𝑆(Scissors)
with 𝑃(𝑥) being the probability that Lennox plays 𝑥
and 𝑆(𝑥) being the score that Violet gets when Lennox plays 𝑥
If, for example, Lennox chose to play Rock 1∕2 of the time, Paper 1∕3 of the time, and Scissors 1∕6 of the time,
then Violet's expected score when playing Paper would be
1∕2⋅2 + 1∕3⋅0 + 1∕6⋅(−1)(3 votes)
what a great real-life example!
and i feel Khan shines on this topic especially, regarding his former work experiences as a hedge fund analyst
here's a question by the way
is there anyone who knows the same or similar type of kiddo's game to rock paper scissor in your own country or culture? as far as i know and played, many east asian countries do have. and even with the same name with a tweak of paper to clothes in one case
anyhow many thanks to Khan as always(1 vote)
Would there be any strategy for Violet or Lennox if Lennox didn't have to pick at random?(1 vote)
There wouldn't. There is, though, a bit of psychology involved. Violet is not incentivised to win with a certain choice, so her goal is to minimise Lennox's points. Lennox, on the other hand, has an incentive to win with rock. Lennox might play the lower numbers to catch Violet off guard, as she would be expecting him to play the choices that give him more points. This would give Lennox points off lots of wins. On the other hand, Lennox could play the higher numbers, because she might think that Violet is expecting him to catch her off guard. These are equally good reasons, so her strategy wouldn't really be a strategy, just an idea they chose to follow because all the options are equally good. Their "strategies" all depend on when they choose to give up debating.(1 vote)
Why does Sal use averages and not just say that Violet always gets the same amount if she wins and Lennox gets the least points winning with scissors which beats paper?(1 vote)
I dont like khan acadaemy this is torture , boo!(0 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] We're told Violet and Lennox play an elaborated
version of rock paper scissors where each combination of shape choices earns a different number
of points for the winner. So rock paper scissors, the game, of course, where rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper,
and paper beats rock, and then they give us
this elaborate version right over here. When Violet wins, she gets two points. When Lennox wins with
rock, she gets three. When Lennox wins with
paper, she gets two points. When Lennox wins with
scissors, she gets one point. And if they choose the same
shape, nobody gets any points 'cause no one wins that round. Complete the matrix so it
represents their scoring system. It shows the number of points Violet gets, a negative number means
Lennox gets those points, where rows are Violet's chosen shape and columns are Lennox's chosen shape. So here we have the
matrix right over here. I encourage you to pause this video and see if you can have
a go at this on your own if you have a piece of paper
in front of you, alright? I encourage you to get a piece of paper. All right, now let's do this together. So, how many points, remember, this matrix is
how many points Violet gets. And if Lennox gets points, then
it's a negative for Violet. So, if Violet chooses a rock
and Lennox chooses a rock, so that is this entry right over here, what's going to happen? How many points is Violet going to get? Well, if both players
choose the same shape, nobody gets any points. So if they both get rock, rock
will get a zero right there. And we also know that's going to be true if Violet picks paper
and Lennox picks paper, you're gonna get a zero
points for Violet there. And if they both pick
scissors, that entry there, you're also going to get a zero. All right, now, what if Violet picks rock and Lennox picks paper? What should I put there? Pause the video and think about it. Violet picks rock and Lennox picks paper. Well, we know that paper beats rock. So this is a situation where
Lennox wins with paper. And so that's this
scenario right over here, so Lennox will get two points. So if Lennox gets two points, remember this matrix is
what does Violet get, Violet gets negative two
points right over here 'cause Lennox got them. All right, now what about this entry? What does that represent? Well, that represents Violet picking rock and Lennox picking scissors. And we know that rock beats scissors so this is a situation where Violet wins, and we know whenever Violet
wins, she gets two points. So this will be a positive
two points right over here. Now, what about this entry? What does that represent? Well, that represents Violet picking paper and Lennox picking rock. And we know that paper beats rock, so this is another
situation where Violet wins and she gets two points in
any scenario where she wins. So that's two points. And now, what about this one over here? Pause this video and think
about what number goes there. Well, this is a situation
where Violet picks paper and Lennox picks scissors. We know scissors beats paper 'cause it can cut it up, I guess, and so Lennox has won with scissors. And we see here, I'll do
it in a different color, Lennox wins with scissors,
she gets one point. So you might be tempted
to write a one here but remember, that's
Lennox getting a point. So this is all about how
many points does Violet get and we said that would
be negative one point if it's going to Lennox. And then, let's think
about this last row here. What does this entry represent? What number should go there? Pause the video and think about it. Well, this is Violet picking scissors and Lennox picking rock. Now, we know that rock beats scissors 'cause I guess it can bash it up, and so Lennox in this
scenario has won with rock, and we know, I'll pick another color here, when Lennox wins with rock,
she gets three points. So Lennox is getting three points here. This matrix is all about
what does Violet get so we wanna put a negative three here 'cause that's three points for Lennox. Remember, a negative number
means Lennox gets those points. And one last entry, what do
you think should go there? Well, this is Violet picking scissors and Lennox picking paper. So we know that scissors beats paper 'cause it can cut it up, and we know that in any
situation where Violet wins, 'cause she won with scissors
here, she gets two points. So that is two points, just like that. So we filled in the matrix and now we have to answer this question. Assuming Lennox picks her
shape entirely at random, what shape should Violet
choose to maximize her chances of getting the most points? So pause the video and see
if this matrix is helpful for figuring out the answer to that. All right. So, this obviously isn't
an exercise on probability, but just as a little bit of a review, one way to think about it
is when Violet picks rock, here are the scenarios, here are the outcomes that might happen. Now, they're telling us
that Lennox picks at random so there would be a 1/3
chance that Lennox picks rock, 1/3 paper, 1/3 scissors. And since these are equally likely 'cause they're saying that
Lennox is picking at random, you can get the, what is sometimes known as
the expected value here, by taking the average
of these three numbers. Another way to think about it would be 1/3 X 0 + 1/3 X -2 + 1/3 X 2. If you wanna go dig deeper
into expected value, there's a lot of that on Khan Academy, but we can really just take
the average of these numbers. Add them up and divide by three is another way to think about it. And so, here the expected value is going to be if we take the sum, we get 0 + -2 + 2. Well, that all sums up to 0, divided by 3, you get to 0. So I'll just write this 0
here as the expected value when Violet picks rock and
Lennox picks at random. Now, in this second scenario,
let's take the average. If we add all three of these up, you get 2 + 0 + -1,
which is 1, divide by 3, you're gonna get 1/3 as the expected value of the points for Violet. And then in that last scenario, if you add all of these up, you get -1, divide by 3 is -1/3. So it looks like the best
expected value for Violet, assuming that Lennox is
going to pick at random, is to go with paper. You have a positive 1/3 expected value. So what shape should Violet
choose to maximize her chances of getting the most points? Paper. Now, of course that's assuming Lennox always picks at random. Obviously, if Lennox catches on that Violet keeps picking paper, Lennox would adjust their strategy. But that gets a little bit deeper.