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Statistics & DataSuperchallengeRandom Variables

Random Variables · Superchallenge problem

A clinic must screen 100 people for an infection; each person is infected with probability 0.10.1, independently. It splits them into pools of equal size kk (with kk a divisor of 100, k≥2k \ge 2) and tests each pool's combined sample once. A negative pool clears all its members; a positive pool (at least one infected member) is followed by a separate test for each of its kk members. With the best choice of kk, what is the expected total number of tests? Round to the nearest hundredth.