Each deposit you make to your bank account is randomly either halved or doubled. Same for each withdrawal.

Correction (tip o' the hat to Wrongfellow):

Each deposit you make to your bank account is randomly either halved or multiplied by three halves. Same for each withdrawal.
-- sqeaketh the wheel, May 16 2011

so you receive the amount you ask for but your account shows either half or twice the amount?

if your account is with a supermarket - your total shopping bill could be halved or doubled as well. oh, don't financiers have fun!
-- po, May 16 2011


[sqeak], do all the other depositors get to make comments on your deposits?

Uh, wait a minute... this is not a sperm bank, right?
-- Grogster, May 16 2011


You can easily recreate this idea at the roulette wheel, or by finding a bookee willing to take bets on flipping a coin.
-- zen_tom, May 16 2011


So if you deposit say £100, your accounts gets credited by either £50 or £200.

That is, either you lose £50, or you gain £100.

If it's a random 50/50 probability then it's worth your while to just keep depositing endlessly. The probability would have to be 66/33 to make things even out.

(Of course you'll have to alter the currency symbol appropriately depending which country you're in.)
-- Wrongfellow, May 16 2011


what zen-tom said. as luck would have it, you'd end up losing by halves ***yes, my bank is half full***
-- dentworth, May 16 2011


[Wrongfellow] is right. (As I realized after posting this.) [+] for that. Corrected posting:

Each deposit you make to your bank account is randomly either halved or increased by three halves. Same for each withdrawal.
-- sqeaketh the wheel, May 16 2011


Or there's the option that random is not neccesarily 50/50. You can set the software to double 1/3 the time and halve 2/3 the time.
-- MechE, May 16 2011


//either halved or increased by three halves//

So now you either lose £50, or gain £150.

To make it balance out with a 50% probability, you need to either lose £50 or gain £50 - that is, your deposit is either halved, or increased by 50% (3/2).
-- Wrongfellow, May 16 2011


[Wrong] is right again. See corrected posting above.
-- sqeaketh the wheel, May 16 2011


wrong is right again. Something tagline-ish about that.
-- RayfordSteele, May 17 2011


When I saw the title I thought it would be an idea for a bank where you could deposit theoritical money. I was pretty enthused by that notion until I realized we already have one of those: the United States Treasury.
-- Alterother, May 19 2011


Isn't this just a re-naming scheme for investment banking?
-- DrBob, May 20 2011


No.
-- sqeaketh the wheel, May 26 2011



random, halfbakery