I threw a coin n times, and never got three tails in a row. I calculated the odds of this event, and found out they were just about even; 50%-50%. How many times did I throw the coin?

A second question: what were the chances of having not gotten three heads in a row either?

Both problems can be solved using Markov chains. The standard way of showing them is using matrices and vectors, but I'll do the equations the old fashioned way.

Edited on June 12, 2004, 11:10 pm

Posted by Oskar on 2004-06-12 22:55:14