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Thread: Sequence of coin tosses.

  1. #1
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    Sequence of coin tosses.

    A sponsor provides two prizes for a raffle. The first prize winner gets to
    choose a probability p \in [1/e, 1 − 1/e]. A sequence of independent coin flips with probability p for a head are then made. The winner receives £10 for each flip up to and including the first head. The same coin is tossed in another independent
    sequence and the second prize winner receives £5 for each flip up to and including
    the first head in this sequence.
    (i) Write down the probability mass functions of the amounts of the two payments
    U for the first prize and V for the second prize.

    For U, I was thinking along the lines of letting X_1,X_2,...X_N be Bernoulli variables and letting N be a different random variable but couldn't quite get this to work. Could someone start me off?
    Last edited by mr fantastic; June 26th 2011 at 12:09 PM. Reason: Re-titled.
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  2. #2
    MHF Contributor
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    Re: Probability Question

    The probability of the first head occuring on the n'th trial is

    P(n-1 tails in a row) * P(head)

    In which case the prize value is 10*(n).

    see if you can continue
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