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From: lew@ihuxr.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: On seeing all the episodes
Message-ID: <525@ihuxr.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 28-Jul-83 10:50:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxr.525
Posted: Thu Jul 28 10:50:46 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Jul-83 02:35:03 EDT
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
Lines: 19

seismo!tiberio (Ty) wonders how he could have failed to see all the ST
episodes. I used to watch Perry Mason reruns a lot and formulated the
"Perry Mason Problem" - in this case the "Star Trek Problem". It is this:

Assume that there are N episodes and that you have an equal chance of
seeing any episode every time you watch. How many episodes should you
expect to watch before seeing all N of them?

The "equal chance" condition is violated if you watch consecutive
episodes on the same channel of course, but this is an idealization.
The answer can be derived fairly easily if you hit on the right way
of approaching it.

Incidentally, I saw a pinball game which provided a better realization
of the idealized problem. It had seven sockets (which spelled PARAGON)
which had to be lit to get a bonus. The chance of getting any socket was
nearly random.

		Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew