How Many Arrows Hit the Target Per Second?

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  • Thread starter Thread starter StrangeCoin
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the expected number of arrows hitting a target per second after a warmup period, considering the shooting rate and timing of the archers. The context includes probabilistic modeling and distribution assumptions related to the scenario presented.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant proposes that the scenario can be modeled as a Poisson process with an average rate of 33.333 arrow hits per second, based on the total number of arrows and their shooting rate.
  • Another participant questions whether the distribution of arrows is uniform over the three seconds, suggesting that the distribution might not be as straightforward as assumed.
  • A later reply acknowledges a mistake regarding the warmup time, suggesting it should be one or two seconds instead of three, leading to a revised expectation of hits per second.
  • One participant argues that if the timing of shots is random, it can be treated as a uniform and independent distribution, leading to a binomial distribution model with specific parameters.
  • There is a mention of dependencies between the number of hits in different time intervals, indicating a more complex relationship than initially assumed.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the distribution of arrow hits and the implications of the warmup period, indicating that multiple competing models and interpretations remain unresolved.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations regarding the assumptions made about the distribution of arrow hits and the warmup time, which affect the calculations and interpretations presented.

StrangeCoin
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Every archer hits the target every time and they shoot at it for ten seconds with the speed of 1 arrow per 3 seconds exactly, but they all start shooting at different random times within the first three seconds, so their arrows hit the target at different times. What is likely number of arrows to hit the target in any given one second time interval after the first three seconds warmup? Thanks.
 
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This is a Poisson process with an average rate of 100/3 = 33.333 arrow hits per second. So the expected number of arrow hits in a second is 33.333.
 
FactChecker said:
This is a Poisson process with an average rate of 100/3 = 33.333 arrow hits per second. So the expected number of arrow hits in a second is 33.333.

Is it not a uniform distribution of 100 arrows over 3 seconds?

And by the way, StrangeCoin seems to be asking homework questions in the math section...
 
FactChecker said:
This is a Poisson process with an average rate of 100/3 = 33.333 arrow hits per second. So the expected number of arrow hits in a second is 33.333.

I see. I made a mistake. "Warmup time" when each archer starts shooting at random point in time, is supposed to be within first one second or two seconds, not three. Say two seconds, so maybe it's 2 out of 3 = 67 arrows per second would hit the target. Doesn't sound right. It must be 33% in any case, doesn't it?
 
StrangeCoin said:
Every archer hits the target every time and they shoot at it for ten seconds with the speed of 1 arrow per 3 seconds exactly, but they all start shooting at different random times within the first three seconds, so their arrows hit the target at different times. What is likely number of arrows to hit the target in any given one second time interval after the first three seconds warmup? Thanks.

33.3.

"they all start shooting at different random times " We don't know the distribution but in probability problems if they don't say then it is always uniform and independent. So we get a binomial distribution with n = 100 and p = 1/3. The number of hits during the seven one-second intervals are not independent. H(n) =H(n+3) and H(n)+H(n+1)+H(n+2)=100 so there are only two degrees of freedom. H(2) is a binomial with n=100-H(1) and p = n/2
 
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