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Problem 398


Problem 398


Cutting rope

Inside a rope of length n, n-1 points are placed with distance 1 from each other and from the endpoints. Among these points, we choose m-1 points at random and cut the rope at these points to create m segments.

Let E(n, m) be the expected length of the second-shortest segment.
For example, E(3, 2) = 2 and E(8, 3) = 16/7.
Note that if multiple segments have the same shortest length the length of the second-shortest segment is defined as the same as the shortest length.

Find E(107, 100).
Give your answer rounded to 5 decimal places behind the decimal point.


割绳子

在一条长为n的绳子上,分布有间距(及最外侧与绳子末端距离)为1的n-1个点。在这些点中,我们随机选择m-1个点,并在这些点处切开,使绳子分成m个分段。

记E(n, m)为第二短的分段的期望长度。
例如,E(3, 2) = 2以及E(8, 3) = 16/7。
注意如果有多个分段均为最短长度,那么第二短的分段长度即为最短长度。

求E(107, 100)。
将你的答案四舍五入到小数点后5位小数。