Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/prelims/mathematics-iii/5/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2023 Prelims Mathematics III 5 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
In each trial the presence indicators of and are independent Bernoulli random variables, with probabilities and . Independence across trials makes their two entire indicator sequences independent. Let be the number of trials before the first ; then . Among these preceding trials, the indicators are independent with probability .
Thus the count is the random sum from part i, andAn outcome on the stopping trial contributes nothing, because the question counts only outcomes strictly before the first .
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