Also

E(X) = 1,
Hence, E(n=a+1) = 1 + E(n=a)
^^ This statement is wrong. It just turns out to be coincidence for
this problem.

E(X) = 1
<some complex mathematics here for n>= 2 .. see contest analysis>
Hence, E(n=a) = a for a>= 2
^^ This is the correct way.

Pedro, correct me if I am wrong. Thought I would point this out as I
feel you are thinking that the calculation is being done the incorrect
way.

For example, take a problem where goro need not sort the numbers but
can stop when there are atmost 2 elements out of place.
In this case,
E(n=2) = 0
E(X) is still 1. (expected number of elements to fall in place).

So, saying that E(n=3) = 1 + 0 = 1 is incorrect.
If you try to calculate, you will see that n=3 is a simple
success-failure event with probability 2/3.
Hence, E(n=3) = 1.5 and not 1.

On 16 May 2011 10:49, Bharath Raghavendran <[email protected]> wrote:
> 1.
> You aren't omitting the case where none are sorted. Its just that when
> none are sorted, the value of the random variable is 0.
>
> For example, if you are finding average of 0 and 10, you do (1/2)*0 +
> (1/2)*10. Even though you are multiplying by 0, you arent omitting it,
> and getting the right answer.
> If probability for 0 is 3/4 and probability for 10 is 1/4, you find
> the average (or expected value) as (3/4)*0 + (1/4)*10 = 2.5. See that
> even though the value of random variable is 0, it affects the final
> output for expected value.
> If probability of 0 is ~1 and probability of 10 is ~0, you will have
> expected value as 0.
>
> Another way to look at this is, if you are uncomfortable multiplying
> with a 0, You can find E(1+X) instead of E(X) and then subtract 1.
> For n=3, E(1+X) will be (1/6)*4 + (1/2)*2 + (1/3)*1 = 2.
> So, E(X) = 2-1 = 1.
>
> 2.
>> There, we did not say, that in one hit one number is expected to
>> come at appropriate position, and because the remaining number does
>> not require any hit (it gets automatically sorted)
>
> This statement is wrong. If we say 1 element has come in the
> appropriate place, we mean that exactly 1 element has come in its
> place and rest of the elements are not in the appropriate place. Note
> that this outcome is not possible for n=2, because either 0 elements
> can fall in place or 2 elements can fall in place. No other outcome is
> possible. However, from calculations, you will see that the expected
> value for number of elements to fall in place is still 1 (by
> calculations). For n=2, you can calculate expected number of hits as
> E(n=2) = (1/2)*(1 + expected number of hits when none of them fell in
> place) + (1/2)*(1 + expected number of hits when both of them fell in
> place)
>  = (1/2)*(1 + E(n=2)) + (1/2)*(1+0)
>  = 1/2 * E(n=2) + 1
> So, E(n=2) = 2.
>
> On 16 May 2011 10:24, Eagle <[email protected]> wrote:
>>       Thanks Pedro, Bharath, & others; finally I have fully
>> understood how the calculation of expected number of numbers that land
>> in the correct position after X hits, is done. Comments by John & Paul
>> Smith also helped in filling the communication gaps, Thanks! I think,
>> I have also understood the logic of your method. It goes something
>> like this (correct me, if I am wrong)-
>> The expected value of the numbers that fall in correct position after
>> a hit is 1. If we have problem of sorting, say, 5 numbers, i.e., N=5,
>> then after first hit, one of the five numbers gets sorted; Goro now
>> puts a finger on it, and the problem is reduced to N=4. By similar
>> process, in second hit we come to N=3, in third hit we come to N=2.
>> For N=2, the solution is already given in the problem statement
>> itself, and that is 2 hits. So, total 5 hits are required for sorting
>> N=5 numbers.
>>
>>       For the sake of science, please ponder over the following
>> points-
>>
>> 1) Is 'expected value' which is average (albeit weighted) value,
>> appropriate in the present problem? The way we are calculating this
>> value, it so happens that the effect of cases where none of the
>> numbers is sorted, becomes zero.
>> For N=3, E(sorted numbers) = (1/6)*3 + (1/2)*1 + (1/3)*0 = 1
>> For N=4, E(sorted numbers) = (1/24)*4 + (1/4)*2 + (1/3)*1 + (9/24)*0 =
>> 1
>> We are ignoring the significance of 2 out of 6 events of the sample
>> space for N=3, and 9 out of 24 for N=4, because of the way we are
>> doing calculation. I have not checked, but I think this ratio must be
>> increasing for N=5, 6, etc. The omission of these cases makes me
>> uncomfortable. Can we afford to take such a risk?
>>
>> 2) We have not omitted the significance of unsorted numbers case for
>> N=2. There, we did not say, that in one hit one number is expected to
>> come at appropriate position, and because the remaining number does
>> not require any hit (it gets automatically sorted), the expected
>> number of hits (for N=2) is one. We appropriately took the number of
>> required hits for N=2 as two.
>>
>>       Thanking you in advance for your learned and thoughtful
>> comments,
>>
>> Eagle
>>
>>
>> On May 14, 11:18 pm, Pedro Osório <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> I am not offended at all. I'm however starting to get a bit annoyed that you
>>> don't pay attention to what I write.
>>>
>>> I have explicitly defined X in that post as "elements that go into the right
>>> position after one hit for the array [2 1]" (because that's what you were
>>> asking about in your last question " the expected number of elements that
>>> are put into position by the first hit is exactly 1")
>>>
>>> Meanwhile, whenever I wrote E[n=whatever], I was talking about the expected
>>> number of hits required to sort an array that has "whatever" elements out of
>>> position.
>>>
>>> E[n=2] - expected number of *hits* required to sort an array that has 2
>>> elements out of place
>>> X         - expected number of *elements* that go into the right position
>>> after one hit for the array [2 1]
>>>
>>> As you can see, the random variables whose expected values we are computing,
>>> don't even refer to the same kind of object. I don't see how you could
>>> confuse them. Please pay more attention before complaining.
>>
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