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The question is: A person is conducting a phone survey. Suppose that 5 of 6 people contacted will complete the survey. Define “success” as the event a person completes the survey and let Y be the number of failures before the third success. What is the probability that there are 10 failures before the third success?

Here is my thought process, n = 13, r = 3 and p = $5\over6$ or we can use the other formula and make y = 10, r = 3 and p should still be the same. Either way, I think p = $5\over6$ but the book is saying p = $1\over6$. Can anyone clarify why this is?

The answer is apparently:

$Pr(Y=10)=$$10+3-1\choose10$$({1\over6})^3({5\over6})^{10}$

I think it should be

$Pr(Y=10)=$$10+3-1\choose10$$({5\over6})^3({1\over6})^{10}$

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    You are right. The success probability is 5/6 as given. Failure probability is 1/6.2017-02-28
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    @NCh, thank you :) I am studying up for the P exam but I swear this free book is making me go crazy with the mistakes in it. I keep second guessing myself like I am just learning probability... when I'm not.2017-02-28

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