Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/ia/paper-2/4f/solution

After independent tosses, an even count arises in exactly two disjoint ways: an even count after tosses followed by a tail, or an odd count followed by a head. Independence of the last toss from the preceding ones therefore gives
Subtracting the fixed point turns this into the linear recurrence
As zero is even, , so the probability is
For this is for every ; for it is always one; for it alternates between one and zero according to the parity of .

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