By independence of the two simple random walks, linearity of expectation, and symmetry of their transition probabilities,
The Chapman-Kolmogorov equation identifies the inner sum as , so
A simple random walk on the integer line can return to only at an even time. Since it is recurrent at , part (a) gives
Therefore .
Let be the probability that the simple symmetric random walk starting at hits zero before . The first-step recurrence is
The recurrence says that is affine, and the boundary values determine it:
For the simple random walk on the integer line, a return to the origin is possible only at an even time. At time , exactly of the increments must be , so the return probability is
The supplied factorial bounds, equivalently the order estimate in the Stirling formula, give
Consequently diverges. By the recurrence criterion by return probabilities, the origin is a recurrent state; translation invariance then makes the whole walk recurrent.
For three independent walks, the probability that all three are at the origin at time is
This P-series is convergent, so the first of the Borel-Cantelli lemmas says that simultaneous returns occur only finitely often with probability one. Therefore the requested probability is
Let count the steps. Then
Consequently
and has probability zero at integers of the other parity. This is the finite-time law of a simple random walk on the integer line.