IPA IP 2026 Question 3
A question IPA Japan published in 令和8年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問3, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
The profits of Company A, an investment company, when it adopts each investment strategy are forecast as shown in the table. Which of the following is the profit when Company A adopts the maximin strategy and the market improves? The maximin strategy is a theory of adopting a strategy so that the minimum value of the profit forecast for each strategy is the largest.
Explanation
5 — the maximin strategy picks strategy b, whose profit when the market improves is 5.
The maximin strategy looks only at each strategy's worst case and chooses the strategy whose worst case is best.
The larger minimum is 0, so Company A adopts strategy b. If the market then improves, the profit is 5.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) −15 — the worst case of strategy a, the strategy maximin rejects
- •(b) 0 — the minimum of strategy b, the value used to choose it; it is the profit when the market worsens, not when it improves
- •(d) 20 — the best case of strategy a, the choice of the maximax (optimistic) strategy
Key rule: Maximin: take each option's minimum and choose the largest (pessimistic); maximax: take each option's maximum and choose the largest (optimistic). Then read the chosen option's value in the given situation.
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This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.