CAR BUYER

An example influence diagram for Joe, who has to decide whether to buy a certain used car which may be a 'peach' or a 'lemon'. He has the option of doing some tests beforehand, and of buying it with a guarantee or not. This is the classic example of an influence diagram derived from a decision problem with a very asymmetric decision tree, since if Joe decides not to test the car, then the test results have no meaning, etc. This problem was posed (in decision tree representation) by Howard62, and is described as an influence diagram in Qi94 and in SmithHM93. (DNET File)