Probabilities of getting a golden coin??

Imagine that in a small town in Ireland , there is a rich old person who for the last 5 years has been throwing thousands of golden coins from his window.
He starts throwing coins almost everyday at 00:00 till 01.50 a.m ( 12.76 % ) , or between 01.51 till 03.00 a.m (14.44 % ) Also between 03.01 till 04.45 a.m (16.99 %) As the dawn approaches he also throws between 04.45 till 06.00 a.m (13.97 %) or between 06.01 till 07.50 (16.91%) But he throws the most between 07.51 till 09.00 a.m (22.09%)

About 8 % of the days he doesn’t throw any coins at all.

The rich old person throws between 1 and 8 coins everyday but at different times.

My question is :

If I go to Ireland and wait under his window at 07:52 a.m and wait there till 09.00 a.m ¿¿how are my chances of getting a coin?? Also, If the rich old person has already thrown some coins during the night , it decreases my possibilities of me getting one golden coin ????

Also one final question:

If I wait under his window for 1000 days . Will I get the 22.09 % of his coins or more???

Thanks for your help.
sergio1971
Jack of Clubs


Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:11 am

Multi-post.

Sounds like one of those "contest" problems!!!

Subhotosh Khan said:

Sounds like one of those "contest" problems!!!

Click to expand...

I think that the problem isn't well specified.
Here more details:


Let's imagine that he has thrown 5000 coins in the last five years and someone has counted the coins as they were thrown. So we have the following percentage:

The results of the thrown coins are aproximate, they should add up 100 %

00:00 till 01.50 a.m :12.76 % (638 thrown coins )
01.51 till 03.00 a.m :14.44 % (722 thrown coins )
03.01 till 04.45 a.m (16.99 %) ( 849 thrown coins)
04.45 till 06.00 a.m :13.97 % ( 698 thrown coins )
06.01 till 07.50 a.m :16.91% (845 thrown coins )
07.51 till 09.00 a.m :22.09% (1104 thrown coins )

1-He throws the coins one at a time , totally at random
2-On a given day , he can throw between 0 and 8 coins


The possibilies of the thrown coins should have added up to 100 % . So in this case I imagine should be 100% - 8% (days in which no coins were thrown at all)
Please keep in mind that i'm not particular good at maths and i'm from Spain so my description of the problem become more difficult.

Thanks very much.

Prepositions in math terminology ...

sergio1971 said:

... between 0 and 8 ...

Click to expand...

Talking about whole numbers ...

"Between 0 and 8" is: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

"From 0 through 8" is: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

"0 to 8 exclusive" is: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

"0 to 8 inclusive" is: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

"0 to 8" is ambiguo.

~ Mark

Re: Prepositions in math terminology ...

mmm4444bot said:

sergio1971 said:

... between 0 and 8 ...

Click to expand...

Talking about whole numbers ...

"Between 0 and 8" is: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

"From 0 through 8" is: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

"0 to 8 exclusive" is: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

"0 to 8 inclusive" is: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

"0 to 8" is ambiguo.

~ Mark

Click to expand...

"From 0 through 8" is: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8} - It's right!!