Re: [math-fun] The importance of being a coupon-collector

I don't know in advance how many distinct coupons are available, but have collected m among which there are just k distinct. What is the most likely value of n ?

i give a similar problem in my intro prob class. i would approach this with a maximal likelihood approach. assuming each coupon is equally likely to appear. for a given value of n, calculate the combinatorial probability of getting what you have collected. then choose the value of n that maximizes this probability. but i don't know how to approach the asymptotics. erich