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a bit string of length four is generated at random so that each of the 16 bit strings of length four is equally likely. what is the probability that it contains at least two consecutive 1s, given that its first bit is a 0?

User Mistero
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Final answer:

The probability of getting a bit string with at least two consecutive 1s, given that the first bit is 0, is 1/2.

Step-by-step explanation:

The probability that a bit string of length four contains at least two consecutive 1s, given that its first bit is 0, can be found using conditional probability.

Let A be the event that the bit string contains at least two consecutive 1s, and let B be the event that the first bit is 0. We need to find P(A|B).

Given that the first bit is 0, there are 8 bit strings of length four that can be formed. Out of these, 4 bit strings contain at least two consecutive 1s (0011, 0111, 1011, 1111).

The student is asking about the probability of generating a random bit string of length four that begins with a 0 and contains at least two consecutive 1s. Since the first bit is a 0, we have three bits left to consider. The bit strings that satisfy the conditions are 0111, 0011, and 0110. There are 23 = 8 possible bit strings beginning with 0. Therefore, the probability is the number of favorable outcomes divided by the total number of outcomes, which is 3/8.

Therefore, the probability of getting a bit string with at least two consecutive 1s, given that the first bit is 0, is 4/8 = 1/2.

User Omer Van Kloeten
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