I need a thing, and I think I'm having trouble communicating it. I need the name of this thing, if it has one, the calculations behind it, and preferably an online tool where I can punch in two variables and get an answer.

It's the probability that, during a single event, variable A has a chance to happen. And the event repeats variable B number of times. What is the probability that, repeated B times, A will happen at least once? It can happen more than once, and you don't stop counting B if A occurs.

Like a deck of 52 playing cards. Shuffle, and draw a card. The probability the card drawn is 7 of clubs is 1/52.
The truck is it's not additive. If you shuffle and draw 52 times, the probability you'll have drawn 7 of clubs at least once isn't 100%.

I'm having trouble thinking of what the calculation should be and it's super mega bothering me.

Okay I think I found it. Probability of something happening during an event is A. Number of times the event is repeated is B. Probability of event A occurring at least once when event is repeated B times is C.

1 - A ^ B = C

Follow

Such that if you flip a coin five times, the chance it will have landed heads at least once is 96.875%.

If you roll a d20 100 times, the chance you'll roll a 20 at least once is apparently too complicated a number for my calculator app to handle because it just says 1 and I know that's wrong.

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!