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 (equal values count)?
Short answer
. Let be the expected extra rolls after a roll of ; symmetry pairs faces , , , leaving three linear first-step equations. Solving them gives an average of extra rolls after the first, so the total is .
Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
See the hint and the full worked solution in the question bank (free account).
Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Expectation, Mean, and Variance
- Counting and Combinatorics
- Conditional Expectation and Variance Revisited
Start with a free lesson: Expectation, Variance and Covariance is part of a free topic. Create a free account, no card needed, to read it in full with worked solutions.
Read it free