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Rolls until neighbouring values are within one

Question

You keep rolling a fair six-sided die. What is the expected number of rolls until two consecutive rolls differ by at most 11 (equal values count)?

Short answer

377/115≈3.28377/115\approx3.28. Let EiE_i be the expected extra rolls after a roll of ii; symmetry pairs faces 1↔61\leftrightarrow6, 2↔52\leftrightarrow5, 3↔43\leftrightarrow4, leaving three linear first-step equations. Solving them gives an average of 13(E1+E2+E3)=262115\tfrac13(E_1+E_2+E_3)=\tfrac{262}{115} extra rolls after the first, so the total is 1+262115=3771151+\tfrac{262}{115}=\tfrac{377}{115}.

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

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