The Monty Hall Problem — Understanding Through Exaggeration

Phillip Bamberger
7 min readJun 2, 2021

In this article I will show you how to better understand the Monty Hall Problem through exaggeration.

What is the Monty Hall Problem?

The Monty Hall problem is a brain teaser, in the form of a probability puzzle, loosely based on the American television game show Let’s Make a Deal and named after its original host, Monty Hall.

Let’s suppose you are in the game show. The host shows you three locked doors. Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. The host asks you to choose a door. You pick a door, say number one.

Initial Situation

The host, who knows what is behind the doors, opens another door, say number three, which has a goat.

Additional Information

He then asks you, “Do you want to pick door number two?”. Remember, the host knows behind which door the car is. Maybe it is a psychological trick to get you away from the right door. Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

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