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Bean coloring (Posted on 2015-07-13) Difficulty: 4 of 5
Start with a bag containing 5 white beans. Randomly draw one at a time employing the following rule:

If the bean is white, color it black and put it back in the bag;
If the bean is black, keep it out.

What is the probability that at some point there will be a single white bean in the bag?

Generalize to start with N beans.
Does the probability converge, and if so, to what value?

No Solution Yet Submitted by Jer    
Rating: 4.5000 (2 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
re: Solution Comment 11 of 11 |
(In reply to Solution by puzzlesrfun)

You seem to be reading 'a single white bean' as

One white and any number of black (which is guaranteed to happen at some point)
Rather than the intended
Just a single bean and it is white (which is not)

  Posted by Jer on 2015-07-29 19:11:31
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