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Chris L T521
Gold Member
MHB
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Thanks to those who participated in last week's POTW! Here's this week's problem (going along with the probability theme for the Graduate POTW)!
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Problem: A rat is trapped in a maze. Initially it has to choose one of two directions. If it goes to the right, then it will wander around the maze for three minutes and will then return to it's initial position. If it goes to the left, then with probability $\frac{1}{3}$ it will depart the maze after two minutes of traveling, and with probability $\frac{2}{3}$ it will return to it's initial position after five minutes of traveling. Assuming that the rat is at all times equally likely to go to the left or to the right, what is the expected number of minutes that it will be trapped in the maze?
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Problem: A rat is trapped in a maze. Initially it has to choose one of two directions. If it goes to the right, then it will wander around the maze for three minutes and will then return to it's initial position. If it goes to the left, then with probability $\frac{1}{3}$ it will depart the maze after two minutes of traveling, and with probability $\frac{2}{3}$ it will return to it's initial position after five minutes of traveling. Assuming that the rat is at all times equally likely to go to the left or to the right, what is the expected number of minutes that it will be trapped in the maze?
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