If each try succeeds with some chance, how many tries does it take to be fairly sure of at least one success?
/**
* Created by mihailod, 03.06.2008., 09.27.56
*/
public class Try {
public static void main(final String[] args) {
double p = 0.01;
double cutoff = 0.8;
double res = 0;
int i = 0;
while(res < cutoff) {
res += p * Math.pow((1 - p), i);
System.out.println("After " + (i+1) + " tries, p = " + res);
i++;
}
}
}