perplexus.info :: Probability : Trading cards

Trading cards (Posted on 2002-05-03)

A trading card series has 200 different cards in it, which are sold in 5-card packages.

Each package has a random sampling of the cards (assume that any card of the 200 has an equal chance of being in a package).

On the average, how many packages will need to be bought to collect the complete series if...

A: all the cards in a package will always be different

B: a package can have repeats

Submitted by levik

Rating: 4.1818 (11 votes)

Solution: (Hide)

After a long tenure on the "Unsolved" list, there have been some users who posted solutions agreeing with one another in their results.
Please refer to the comments on this problem to read them.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)

Subject	Author	Date
Trading online	TobyGates	2022-11-24 01:23:38
Puzzle Answer	K Sengupta	2022-09-19 04:17:38
Trading cards	Whia1967	2022-09-19 04:02:22
hmm	Joe C	2003-11-05 14:13:39
my methods and Charlie's corrections	Steve Hutton	2003-03-09 02:07:57
re(2): a method of solving problem A	Charlie	2003-02-06 09:07:50
re: a method of solving problem A	Charlie	2003-02-06 09:01:32
re: Another analytic solution to problem B	Charlie	2003-02-06 05:55:44
Another analytic solution to problem B	Rick	2003-02-05 12:06:52
re(2): a method of solving problem B	Charlie	2003-02-05 08:57:29
re: a method of solving problem B	Charlie	2003-02-05 08:53:56
re(2): Analytic solution, A and B missing parens added	Charlie	2003-02-05 08:36:48
re: Analytic solution, A and B missing parens added	Charlie	2003-01-31 09:17:10
Analytic solution, A and B	Charlie	2003-01-31 08:33:22
Analytic Solution to Part B(ctd.--part 3)	Charlie	2003-01-30 10:01:13
Analytic Solution to Part B (ctd.)	Charlie	2003-01-30 09:59:15
Analytic Solution to Part B	Charlie	2003-01-30 09:56:57
re(3): Simulation results	Charlie	2003-01-29 17:01:55
re(3): Simulation results	Charlie	2003-01-29 17:00:45
re(2): Simulation results	Tony	2003-01-29 13:25:16
re: Simulation results	Charlie	2003-01-29 10:15:58
Simulation results	Tony	2003-01-24 13:39:11
cards	terry	2003-01-19 19:17:29
trading cards	terry	2002-12-25 06:51:56
re: Trading cards	terry	2002-12-20 02:47:19
Trading cards	terry	2002-12-19 21:18:36
re: This should be the answer	Cory Taylor	2002-11-29 08:58:07
This should be the answer	Sophia	2002-11-29 03:19:56
attempt at case B	Keedom	2002-11-19 00:26:36
attempt ar case A	Keedom	2002-11-18 23:59:16
a method of solving problem A	Steve Hutton	2002-07-31 13:55:51
a method of solving problem B	Steve Hutton	2002-07-31 13:51:49
re: my result	Steve Hutton	2002-07-28 06:05:44
my result	Cheradenine	2002-06-11 08:22:50
No Subject	Cheradenine	2002-06-11 08:21:18
re: it's more complicated	levik	2002-05-26 12:27:41
My thoughts	TomM	2002-05-10 08:32:37
its more complicated	Eamon	2002-05-10 00:01:49
Possible solution	Half-Mad	2002-05-07 23:33:12

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