login
The OEIS is supported by the many generous donors to the OEIS Foundation.

 

Logo
Hints
(Greetings from The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences!)
A288416 Median of (2X-n)^2 + (2Y-n)^2 where X and Y are independent random variables with B(n, 1/2) distributions. 2
2, 4, 2, 4, 10, 8, 10, 8, 10, 16, 18, 20, 18, 20, 26, 20, 26, 20, 26, 32, 26, 32, 34, 36, 34, 36, 34, 40, 34, 40, 50, 40, 50, 52, 50, 52, 50, 52, 50, 52, 58, 64, 58, 64, 58, 68, 58, 68, 74, 68, 74, 72, 74, 72, 82, 80, 82, 80, 82, 80, 82, 80, 90, 100, 90, 100 (list; graph; refs; listen; history; text; internal format)
OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
Interpretation: Start at the origin, and flip a pair of coins. Move right one unit if the first coin is heads, and otherwise left one unit. Then move up one unit if the second coin is heads, and otherwise down one unit. This sequence gives your median squared-distance from the origin after n pairs of coin flips.
The mean of (2X-n)^2 + (2Y-n)^2 is 2n, or A005843.
A continuous analog draws each move from N(0,1) rather than from {+1,-1}, so the final x- and y- coordinates are distributed as N(0,sqrt(n)). Then the final point has probability 1 - exp(-r^2/2n) of being within r of the origin, and the median squared-distance for this continuous analog is n log(4). We also observe empirically that for this discrete sequence, a(n)/n approaches log(4).
LINKS
EXAMPLE
For n=3 the probabilities of ending up at the lattice points in [-3,3]x[-3,3] are 1/64 of:
1 0 3 0 3 0 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 9 0 9 0 3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 9 0 9 0 3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 3 0 3 0 1
So the squared-distance is 2 with probability 36/64, 10 with probability 24/64, and 18 with probability 4/64; the median squared-distance is therefore 2.
MATHEMATICA
Shifted[x_, n_] := (2 x - n)^2;
WeightsMatrix[n_] := Table[Binomial[n, i] Binomial[n, j], {i, 0, n}, {j, 0, n}]/2^(2 n);
ValuesMatrix[n_, f_] := Table[f[i, n] + f[j, n], {i, 0, n}, {j, 0, n}];
Distribution[n_, f_] := EmpiricalDistribution[Flatten[WeightsMatrix[n]] -> Flatten[ValuesMatrix[n, f]]];
NewMedian[n_, f_] :=
Mean[Quantile[Distribution[n, f], {1/2, 1/2 + 1/2^(2 n)}]];
Table[NewMedian[n, Shifted], {n, 66}]
CROSSREFS
Cf. A288347, which is similar, with shifted coordinates; and also A288346.
Sequence in context: A191370 A298242 A282283 * A240893 A241108 A151706
KEYWORD
nonn
AUTHOR
Matt Frank, Jun 09 2017
STATUS
approved

Lookup | Welcome | Wiki | Register | Music | Plot 2 | Demos | Index | Browse | More | WebCam
Contribute new seq. or comment | Format | Style Sheet | Transforms | Superseeker | Recents
The OEIS Community | Maintained by The OEIS Foundation Inc.

License Agreements, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy. .

Last modified April 16 14:17 EDT 2024. Contains 371740 sequences. (Running on oeis4.)