High-Precision Framework for Expected Hitting Times Analysis in the Dice-Sum Process
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| author | Krityakierne, Tipaluck Thanatipanonda, Thotsaporn Aek |
| author_facet | Krityakierne, Tipaluck Thanatipanonda, Thotsaporn Aek |
| contents | We study the expected number of rolls required for the cumulative sum of a fair six-sided die to first enter a prescribed target set $H\subset\mathbb{Z}_{\ge0}$. A one-variable dynamic-programming formulation is introduced that removes dependence on the roll count. Within this framework, the infinite process is truncated at a large cutoff $N$ and corrected by an analytically derived overshoot term that accounts for the rare event of exceeding $N$ before entering $H$. Explicit bounds on this residual yield a strict two-sided estimate of the truncation error. The method is numerically efficient, requiring constant memory and linear time in the cutoff. For the perfect-square target set $H=\{n^2:n\in\mathbb{N}\}$, all quantities are evaluated explicitly, yielding \[ \mathbb{E}[T]=7.07976423755110510389555305690818489468\ldots, \] provably correct to 1,017 decimal places. This constitutes the most precise result known to date and establishes a general framework for high-accuracy computation of discrete hitting times. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_23133 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | High-Precision Framework for Expected Hitting Times Analysis in the Dice-Sum Process Krityakierne, Tipaluck Thanatipanonda, Thotsaporn Aek Probability Numerical Analysis Combinatorics 60J10, 65C40, 68W25, 60-08 We study the expected number of rolls required for the cumulative sum of a fair six-sided die to first enter a prescribed target set $H\subset\mathbb{Z}_{\ge0}$. A one-variable dynamic-programming formulation is introduced that removes dependence on the roll count. Within this framework, the infinite process is truncated at a large cutoff $N$ and corrected by an analytically derived overshoot term that accounts for the rare event of exceeding $N$ before entering $H$. Explicit bounds on this residual yield a strict two-sided estimate of the truncation error. The method is numerically efficient, requiring constant memory and linear time in the cutoff. For the perfect-square target set $H=\{n^2:n\in\mathbb{N}\}$, all quantities are evaluated explicitly, yielding \[ \mathbb{E}[T]=7.07976423755110510389555305690818489468\ldots, \] provably correct to 1,017 decimal places. This constitutes the most precise result known to date and establishes a general framework for high-accuracy computation of discrete hitting times. |
| title | High-Precision Framework for Expected Hitting Times Analysis in the Dice-Sum Process |
| topic | Probability Numerical Analysis Combinatorics 60J10, 65C40, 68W25, 60-08 |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.23133 |