[Math] Infinite sequence of bernoulli trials

probabilityprobability distributions

Consider and Infinite sequence of Bernoulli trials with probability of success equals to p. For a given number k let X denote the number of trial in which k-th success appeared. Find a distribution of X.
How to find that? The answer i have is ${{i-1}\choose{k-1}}p^k(1-p)^{i-k} $, but i have no idea where does this comes from.

Best Answer

The k'th success occurs at the i'th trial exactly when there is k-1 successes in the first i-1 trials, $B(i-1,p) = k-1$, and the i'th trial is a success. $$P(X=i) = p \cdot P(B(i-1,p)=k-1) = p \left(\begin{matrix}i-1\\k-1\end{matrix}\right)p^{k-1}(1-p)^{i-k}$$

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