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Formulae and Recursions for the Joint Distribution of Success Runs of Several Lengths

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Abstract

Consider a sequence of n independent Bernoulli trials with the j-th trial having probability pj of success, 1 ≤ j ≤ n. Let M(n,K) and N(n, K) denote, respectively, the r-dimensional random variables (M(n, k1),..., M(n,kr) and (N(n,k1), ..., N(n, kr)), where K = (k1, k2, ..., kr) and M(n, s) [N(n, s)] represents the number of overlapping [non-overlapping] success runs of length s. We obtain exact formulae and recursions for the probability distributions of M(n, K) and N(n, K). The techniques of proof employed include the inclusion-exclusion principle and generating function methodology. Our results have potential applications to statistical tests for randomness.

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Godbole, A.P., Papastavridis, S.G. & Weishaar, R.S. Formulae and Recursions for the Joint Distribution of Success Runs of Several Lengths. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics 49, 141–153 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003170823986

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