On Von Schelling Formula for the Generalized Coupon Collector Problem
Discrete Mathematics
2017-03-07 v1
Abstract
This paper gives an algebraic proof of the correctness of Von Schelling formula for the probability of the coupon collector problem waiting time for non-uniform distributions and partial collections. It introduces a theorem on sums of powers of subset probabilities which to our knowledge is new. A set of binomial coefficients is used as a basis for decomposition of these sums of powers.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1703.01886,
title = {On Von Schelling Formula for the Generalized Coupon Collector Problem},
author = {Christian Berthet},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.01886},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
22 pages