My first original question :P



Source of inspiration: Discussion with one of the seniors (CSE, IITB Alumnus 05-09 & Quant Analyst) during Pre-Placement Talk of a firm during Campus Placements - "I have seen your blog. Its very good. But its not original. Try and make your own questions."



Problem:

Ever played housie/tambola? I played housie once every month for 6 good years of my life. Won some prizes. Each coupon (a ticket with 15 numbers) cost Rs. 10 then. Full Housie was nearly 150 Rs, exact number depending upon the number of tickets sold.



I played one such game once again after a lapse of 6 years I think. At the end of the game I saw that 76 numbers out of 90 had been cut on the board. I couldn't help but to think what is the expected number of numbers I expect to be crossed if N (say 100) tickets have been sold. Also, I wanted to find out what is a good number of people who should be there to play housie. Of course if there are zillions of people, the game would be…