On the distribution of the number of walks until no shoes

This article presents a further analysis of the probabilistic problem known as The Number of Walks Until No Shoes, introduced by Blom et al. (1994). We show that, in the cases of one and two pairs of shoes, the distribution of the number of walks is given by a geometric random variable and by the sum of two independent geometric random variables, respectively. These results are intended for use as teaching material in early undergraduate courses to aid in the understanding of probability distributions.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Mathematical Gazette
Published
2026-06-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/00255572.2026.2674982
Primary Topic
Statistics Education and Methodologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

On the distribution of the number of walks until no shoes

Toshio Nakata
The Mathematical Gazette
Statistics Education and Methodologies
article

On the distribution of the number of walks until no shoes

Toshio Nakata
article en

Abstract

This article presents a further analysis of the probabilistic problem known as The Number of Walks Until No Shoes, introduced by Blom et al. (1994). We show that, in the cases of one and two pairs of shoes, the distribution of the number of walks is given by a geometric random variable and by the sum of two independent geometric random variables, respectively. These results are intended for use as teaching material in early undergraduate courses to aid in the understanding of probability distributions.

The Mathematical Gazette
University of Teacher Education Fukuoka (JP)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Statistics Education and Methodologies
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