mathematical

Collecting Cereal Box Prizes

There are 5 different collectible items that can be found in a cereal box.  Think cards, figurines, what have you.  Assuming an equal probability of any one of the items being in the box, on average, how many boxes of cereal do you need to buy to collect all 5?

How about generalizing to n?

Posted March 20, 2012 by Lisha Li