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Bayesian update from one slip drawn from a box

Question

Box 1 contains eight slips numbered 11 through 88. Box 2 contains eight slips as well: four marked 11 and four marked 22. You choose a box by a fair coin flip and draw one slip at random; it reads 22, and you put it back. You then make 4040 further draws, with replacement, from that same box. What is the expected number of these draws that show a 22?

Short answer

1717. A 22 is drawn with probability 18\tfrac18 from box 1 and 12\tfrac12 from box 2, so by Bayes the posterior on box 2 is 1/21/2+1/8=45\tfrac{1/2}{1/2+1/8}=\tfrac45. The expected count is 45⋅20+15⋅5=17\tfrac45\cdot20+\tfrac15\cdot5=17.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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