Question 118
James is standing at the point $(0,1)$ on the coordinate plane and wants to eat a hamburger. For each integer $n \geq 0$, the point $(n, 0)$ has a hamburger with $n$ patties. There is also a wall at $y=2.1$ which James cannot cross. In each move, James can go either up, right, or down 1 unit as long as he does not cross the wall or visit a point he has already visited.
Every second, James chooses a valid move uniformly at random, until he reaches a point with a hamburger. Then he eats the hamburger and stops moving. Find the expected number of patties that James eats on his burger.
Proposed by: Joey Heerens
Every second, James chooses a valid move uniformly at random, until he reaches a point with a hamburger. Then he eats the hamburger and stops moving. Find the expected number of patties that James eats on his burger.
Proposed by: Joey Heerens