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Question
Two people each toss a fair coin until they see their first head; let and be the number of tosses for the first and second person. What is the probability that ?
Short answer
. Condition on (probability ). Then means the first tosses are tails, probability . Summing, .
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Random Variables and Probability Mass Functions
- Conditional Probability, Total Probability, and Bayes' Rule
- Worked Examples — Probability Trees, Monty Hall, and Bayesian Updating
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