A run of exactly three heads in six tosses
Question
A fair coin is tossed six times. What is the probability that the sequence contains a block of exactly three heads in a row, i.e. three consecutive heads bordered on each side by a tail or by the end of the sequence?
Short answer
. The run can start at positions –. Starting at or , one neighbour must be and the two other tosses are free ( each); starting at or , both neighbours are and one toss is free ( each). That is of sequences.
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Counting and Combinatorics
- Sample Spaces, Events, and the Probability Axioms
- Conditional Probability, Total Probability, and Bayes' Rule
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