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boyhappy_5
Nov 19, 2020

Please help

Could anyone help me?


A bacteria has 1/3 probability to die and 2/3 probability to divide into 2 identical cells.


What is the probability that all the bacteria die ?

That is: finally, there is no bacteria anymore.

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Ian Fowler
Nov 19, 2020  ·  Edited: Nov 19, 2020

Are you looking for the prob that all will all die over an n generations or just after the first generation?


If there are P bacteria in the initial (0th generation) population then the prob they all die after the 0th generation is

(1/3)(1/3)(1/3)(1/3) ...(1/3) with P factors.

=(1/3)^P


It gets more complicated if you want to extend to n generations.

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