Publications
Sort:
Open Access Research Article Issue
A generating function framework for the no-feedback card guessing game after riffle shuffles
AIMS Mathematics 2025, 10(10): 24257-24269
Published: 23 October 2025
Abstract PDF (619 KB) Collect
Downloads:3

We introduce a generating-function framework for analyzing the no-feedback card-guessing game after k Gilbert–Shannon–Reeds riffle shuffles. We show that the distribution of the card appearing in position i can be expressed as a structured mixture of 2 k tractable components, each corresponding to a sum of independent Bernoulli trials. From this decomposition, we derive an explicit closed-form expression for the probability generating function, represented as a product of binomial-type polynomials with a clear and systematic structure, valid for any number of cards n and any number of shuffles k. This formulation replaces recursive convolutions with a single analytic expression, enabling efficient computation and revealing the combinatorial–probabilistic structure underlying riffle shuffles. Beyond exact evaluation, the framework connects optimal no-feedback strategies with the generating functions and suggests asymptotic behavior in both the fixed- k, large- n and fixed- n, large- k regimes.

Total 1