International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 2003 (2003), Issue 62, Pages 3957-3962
doi:10.1155/S0161171203301425

Parrondo's paradox

Geoffrey C. Berresford and Andrew M. Rockett

Department of Mathematics, C.W. Post Campus, Long Island University, 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville 11548, NY, USA

Received 3 January 2003

Copyright © 2003 Geoffrey C. Berresford and Andrew M. Rockett. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Since coming to the attention of the general news media several years ago, the paradoxical combination of two losing games into a winning game by J. M. R. Parrondo has been the subject of numerous numerical investigations and simulations. This note provides a clear statement of the nature of the paradox together with a straightforward analysis and resolution that is accessible to a wide audience.