ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Probabilistic Turing machine

A probabilistic Turing machine is like a robot that solves tricky problems by guessing the answer and then checking to see if it's right. But sometimes, the robot isn't sure what the answer is, so it flips a coin to decide which guess to make. This helps the robot solve problems faster than a regular robot that isn't allowed to guess.

It’s like playing a game. Sometimes you don’t know the answer, but you can guess and see if you’ve got it right! If you’re not sure about your guess, you can flip a coin to see if you should guess one way or the other.

The probabilistic Turing machine can solve many problems that regular robots can't solve, but it isn't always perfect. Sometimes, its guesses are wrong, just like when you guess the wrong color of M&M. But with enough guesses and checking, the probabilistic Turing machine can solve very hard problems.
Related topics others have asked about: