Author

• R. T. Smythe

Abstract

Given an i.i.d. sequence of n letters from a finite alphabet, we consider the length of the longest run of any letter. In the equiprobable case, results for this run turn out to be closely related to the well-known results for the longest run of a given letter. For coin-tossing, tail probabilities are compared for both kinds of runs via Poisson approximation.

Keywords

• Finite alphabet
• i.i.d. sequences
• success runs
• Poisson approximation