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We consider a generalisation of the classical coupon collector's problem, in which at each time step a collector either receives a new copy of a randomly chosen coupon, or loses all their previously collected copies of that coupon. We…

Probability · Mathematics 2026-05-15 Luke J. Attrill , Timothy M. Garoni

We study in this paper a generalized coupon collector problem, which consists in determining the distribution and the moments of the time needed to collect a given number of distinct coupons that are drawn from a set of coupons with an…

Probability · Mathematics 2014-02-24 Emmanuelle Anceaume , Yann Busnel , Bruno Sericola

We study in this paper a generalized coupon collector problem, which consists in analyzing the time needed to collect a given number of distinct coupons that are drawn from a set of coupons with an arbitrary probability distribution. We…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-04-16 Emmanuelle Anceaume , Yann Busnel , Ernst Schulte-Geers , Bruno Sericola

The Coupon Collector Problem (CCP) is a well-known combinatorial problem that seeks to estimate the number of random draws required to complete a collection of $n$ distinct coupon types. Various generalizations of this problem have been…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-01-21 Hadas Abraham , Ido Feldman , Eitan Yaakobi

This paper provides analysis to a generalized version of the coupon collector problem, in which the collector gets $d$ distinct coupons each run and she chooses the one that she has the least so far. On the asymptotic case when the number…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2019-07-10 Weiyu Xu , Ao Kevin Tang

We address a conjecture of Schilling concerning the optimality of the uniform distribution in the generalized Coupon Collector's Problem (CCP) where, in each round, a subset (package) of $s$ coupons is drawn from a total of $n$ distinct…

Probability · Mathematics 2026-05-12 Daniel Berend , Tomer Sher

The sequential sampling of populations with unequal probabilities and with replacement in a closed population is a recurrent problem in ecology and evolution. Many of these questions can be reformulated as urn problems, often as special…

In this note, we introduce a distributed twist on the classic coupon collector problem: a set of $m$ collectors wish to each obtain a set of $n$ coupons; for this, they can each sample coupons uniformly at random, but can also meet in…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-12-14 Dan Alistarh , Peter Davies

The article explores the asymptotic behavior of the expected number of drawings in the Coupon Collector's Problem with group-drawing under the uniform distribution. In this variant, each draw consists of a package of $s$ distinct coupons…

Probability · Mathematics 2026-05-11 Daniel Berend , Tomer Sher

Motivated by a problem in the theory of randomized search heuristics, we give a very precise analysis for the coupon collector problem where the collector starts with a random set of coupons (chosen uniformly from all sets). We show that…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2017-08-01 Benjamin Doerr , Carola Doerr

In this note we evaluate the expected waiting time to complete a collection of coupons, in the case of coupons which arrives in groups of constant size, independently and with unequal probabilities. As an application we will be able to…

Probability · Mathematics 2012-10-08 Marco Ferrante , Nadia Frigo

We study how efficiently a $k$-element set $S\subseteq[n]$ can be learned from a uniform superposition $|S\rangle$ of its elements. One can think of $|S\rangle=\sum_{i\in S}|i\rangle/\sqrt{|S|}$ as the quantum version of a uniformly random…

We generalize the well-known Coupon Collector Problem (CCP) in combinatorics. Our problem is to find the minimum and expected number of draws, with replacement, required to recover $n$ distinctly labeled coupons, with each draw consisting…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2025-07-22 Andrew Tan , Oriel Limor , Daniella Bar-Lev , Ryan Gabrys , Zohar Yakhini , Paul H. Siegel

This Ph.D. thesis concerns the version of the classical coupon collector's problem, when a collector samples with replacement a set of $n\ge 2$ distinct coupons so that at each time any one of the $n$ coupons is drawn with the same…

Probability · Mathematics 2010-07-27 Anna Pósfai

Motivated by applications in bioinformatics, we consider the word collector problem, i.e. the expected number of calls to a random weighted generator of words of length $n$ before the full collection is obtained. The originality of this…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2012-04-18 Jérémie Du Boisberranger , Danièle Gardy , Yann Ponty

The embedding problem of Markov transition matrices into continuous-time Markov semigroups is a classic problem that regained a lot of impetus and activities in recent years. We consider it here for the following generalisation of the…

Probability · Mathematics 2026-01-27 Ellen Baake , Michael Baake

We extend the classical coupon collector's problem to one in which two collectors are simultaneously and independently seeking collections of $d$ coupons. We find, in finite terms, the probability that the two collectors finish at the same…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Amy N. Myers , Herbert S. Wilf

Consider the coupon collector problem where each box of a brand of cereal contains a coupon and there are n different types of coupons. Suppose that the probability of a box containing a coupon of a specific type is $1/n$ and that we keep…

Probability · Mathematics 2022-06-13 J. C. Saunders

In the classical coupon collector's problem, every box of breakfast cereal contains one coupon from a collection of n distinct coupons, each equally likely to appear. The goal is to find the expected number of boxes a player needs to…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-02-22 Tipaluck Krityakierne , Thotsaporn Aek Thanatipanonda

In this paper the coupon collector's problem with group drawings is studied. Assume there are $ n $ different coupons. At each time precisely $ s $ of the $ n $ coupons are drawn, where all choices are supposed to have equal probability.…

Probability · Mathematics 2022-02-16 Carina Betken , Christoph Thäle
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