Knowing you had a 50 percent chance of winning and would be paid 10 times the amount of your bet if you won, what fraction of what you now own would you be willing to wager?

I’m not much of a gambler. I mean, I never even play the lottery. I know that a 50/50 shot is a lot better than what you can expect playing any aspect of a state-run lottery. But if someone told me that they were willing to throw their entire savings account into this little wager, I’d think they were stupid. I mean, I yell at the TV when people on Wheel of Fortune risk a couple thousand bucks on the mystery space on the wheel. So I doubt I’d be willing to wager much, if anything at all.

Would you place that bet?

*The Question of the Week can be found in The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.