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Thread: Point me in the right direction.

  1. Sep 13th, 2004, 03:36 PM #1
    MHENK
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    Point me in the right direction.

    Alright, i got assigned this, and have no idea how to begin. I'm not looking for an answer (wait, yes I am, but don't expect one). Could someone maybe give me a little guidence?

    Let Yn be the sum of n independent rolls of a fair die. Find the probability that Yn is a multiple of 13, as n goes to infinity.

    This is what I have, nothing more than a mathematical writing of the problem

    lim P{Yn is a multiple of 13}
    n-> inf.

    Help me?

    -mh
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  2. Sep 14th, 2004, 09:29 PM #2
    Darkwraith
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    I'm just taking a wild guess here, but would the sum become inf and inf is just a symbol and not a number, so would there even be an answer?
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  3. Sep 14th, 2004, 10:22 PM #3
    alkatran
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    There is a different between the limit of x as it approaches infinity and infinity. The value may converge. I would suggest a table of values for the really low roll amounts (3+, as 2 and 1 can't reach 13)

    Write a small computer program to do it for you. It would take hours to figure it out for 20 dice.
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  4. Sep 14th, 2004, 10:32 PM #4
    alkatran
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    I bet that the probability will close in on 1/13
    Basicly, as amount of rolls becomes larger, ... uh, ok it was just a guess.
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  6. Sep 14th, 2004, 10:32 PM #5
    alkatran
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    Idea: solve this for multiples of 2, then 3, and 4. Maybe this will help?
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