Rolls until back-to-back sixes
Question
A fair die is rolled repeatedly. What is the expected number of rolls until two sixes occur on consecutive rolls?
Short answer
. For a run of sixes the standard recursion gives ; for that is . Equivalently, wait 6 rolls for a six; then the next roll finishes with probability , and otherwise you start over, so .
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Expectation, Mean, and Variance
- Counting and Combinatorics
- Conditional Expectation and Variance Revisited
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