Ten tosses where tails only come in pairs
Question
A fair coin is tossed times. What is the probability that the tails can be split into adjacent pairs, i.e. every maximal block of consecutive tails has even length? (With tosses, , and qualify, while and do not.)
Short answer
. A valid string ends in either or , so the count satisfies with , : Fibonacci numbers. Thus out of .
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Counting and Combinatorics
- Conditional Probability, Total Probability, and Bayes' Rule
- Worked Examples — Probability Trees, Monty Hall, and Bayesian Updating
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