2014 Extension 1 BOS Trial Exam Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

mattjd

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I was wondering whether someone could please give a hint for 13) part b) ii) and iii).
Initially I thought to find P(k+1)/P(k) = 1/((n-1)(k+1)(m-k+1)) and find the smallest k for which P(k+1)/P(k) < 0. If k = m+1, then P(k+1)/P(k) = 0 and if k = m + 2, P(k+1)/P(k) = 1/((n-1)(m+2)(-1) < 0 so presumably k = m + 2 is the most likely number of times the chosen number will appear. Which isn't what the question says.

Then I tried calculating the expected value which is a different interpretation of the question which might have worked
E(k) is the expected value of the random variable k, where E(k) = sum from k = 0 to k= m of kP(k)
So I calculated E(k) using the substitution k(m choose k) = m((m-1) choose (k-1)), made the substitution u = k-1, and expanded the binomial (1 + (n-1))^(m-1) to simplify the expression to get E(k) = m/n which is closer to what the given answer was, but still not right.
 

Trebla

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I was wondering whether someone could please give a hint for 13) part b) ii) and iii).
Initially I thought to find P(k+1)/P(k) = 1/((n-1)(k+1)(m-k+1)) and find the smallest k for which P(k+1)/P(k) < 0. If k = m+1, then P(k+1)/P(k) = 0 and if k = m + 2, P(k+1)/P(k) = 1/((n-1)(m+2)(-1) < 0 so presumably k = m + 2 is the most likely number of times the chosen number will appear. Which isn't what the question says.

Then I tried calculating the expected value which is a different interpretation of the question which might have worked
E(k) is the expected value of the random variable k, where E(k) = sum from k = 0 to k= m of kP(k)
So I calculated E(k) using the substitution k(m choose k) = m((m-1) choose (k-1)), made the substitution u = k-1, and expanded the binomial (1 + (n-1))^(m-1) to simplify the expression to get E(k) = m/n which is closer to what the given answer was, but still not right.
I'm not exactly sure why you want to solve for the smallest k such that P(k+1)/P(k) < 0 when no such k exists given that P(k) and P(k+1) are probabilities and the total number of trials is m (so the largest possible value of k is m).

The approach for (ii) is to find the largest value of k such that P(k+1) > P(k).
 

mattjd

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Hahaha, thankyou :) just realised that what I should have done was P(k+1)/P(k) > 1, which is then equivalent to P(k+1) > P(k).
 

RealiseNothing

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I was wondering whether someone could please give a hint for 13) part b) ii) and iii).
Initially I thought to find P(k+1)/P(k) = 1/((n-1)(k+1)(m-k+1)) and find the smallest k for which P(k+1)/P(k) < 0. If k = m+1, then P(k+1)/P(k) = 0 and if k = m + 2, P(k+1)/P(k) = 1/((n-1)(m+2)(-1) < 0 so presumably k = m + 2 is the most likely number of times the chosen number will appear. Which isn't what the question says.
uhhh how can probability be negative?
 

deboiz

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HAHAH sorry to dig this up again but does anyone know where i could get solutions?
 

braintic

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