Question

In basketball, Shaquille makes 40% of his free throw attempts. He goes to the free throw line to shoot one and one ( if he makes the first shot, he gets to shoot one more). He scores 1 point per free throw. What is the expected value of the number of points he will score?

Answer 1

.56 is the answer....

Answer 2

Situations:
1) he makes 1st shot + he makes 2nd shot
P(A) = 0.4 · 0.4 = 0.16  ( 16 % )
2) he makes 1 st shot + he misses 2nd shot
P(B) = 0.4 · 0.6 = 0.24   ( 24 % )
3) he misses 1st shot and he has no more attempts
P (C) = 0.6 ( 60 %)
0.16 · 2 + 0.24 · 1 + 0.6 · 0 = 0.32 + 0.34 = 0.56
The expected value is 0.56 points.