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Group size maximising expected unshared birthdays

Question

For a group of nn people with independent birthdays uniform over 365365 days, let b(n)b(n) be the expected number of days on which exactly one person in the group has their birthday. Two integers nn tie for the largest value of b(n)b(n). What is their sum?

Short answer

729729. By linearity, b(n)=n(364365)n−1b(n)=n\left(\tfrac{364}{365}\right)^{n-1}, since each person is alone on their day with that probability. The ratio b(n+1)/b(n)=n+1n⋅364365b(n+1)/b(n)=\tfrac{n+1}{n}\cdot\tfrac{364}{365} equals 11 exactly at n=364n=364, so b(364)=b(365)b(364)=b(365) is the maximum.

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