An open toss problem

Abstract

We discuss some particular cases of the following problem. Each of m persons tosses a coin. Those who get heads stay for the next round. Those who get tails are eliminated; however, if all persons get tails in a round, they move to the next round (as if each of them had got a head). The problem is to find the possibility that exactly one person is left after r rounds. All coins are considered identical but not necessarily fair.

Keywords

• coin tossing
• depletion model.