A Note on the Probability of Winning a Lottery when the Number of Competitors is a Binomial Random Variable

Type of content
Discussion / Working Papers
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
College of Business and Economics
University of Canterbury. Department of Economics and Finance
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2010
Authors
Hogan, S.
Meriluoto, L.
Abstract

Consider a model in which a consumer faces a lottery with j other people for a prize, so that the probability of winning the prize is 1/(j+1). Now let j be a random variable, determined by the binomial distribution. Specifically, let there be n potential competitors for the consumer in the lottery, each with an independent probability of pi of being a competitor. In this note, we show how the resulting expression for the expected value of 1/(j+1) using binomial probabilities can be simplified by means of the binomial theorem.

Description
RePEc Working Paper: 48/2010
Citation
Hogan, S., Meriluoto, L. (2010) A Note on the Probability of Winning a Lottery when the Number of Competitors is a Binomial Random Variable. Department of Economics and Finance. 4pp..
Keywords
binomial distribution, binomial theorem, lottery
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::35 - Commerce, management, tourism and services::3502 - Banking, finance and investment::350208 - Investment and risk management
Fields of Research::49 - Mathematical sciences::4905 - Statistics::490506 - Probability theory
Fields of Research::38 - Economics::3802 - Econometrics::380202 - Econometric and statistical methods
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