Memorylessness of the geometric distribution

ID: memorylessness-of-the-geometric-distribution

For the positive-integer geometric distribution with success probability , the displayed identity holds for nonnegative integers whenever the conditioning event has positive probability. The first attempts have failed; future independent attempts use the same success probability. Equivalently, divide the tail by . For a zero-based failures count , use . Constant success probability and independence are essential: accumulated wear or learning would require a different model.

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