rocqua parent
The N systems case equation has to be wrong. I think you need either 1/(1-p)^n or 1/(1-p^n)
I think it says 1/(1-np).
That's what it says in the original post. It is also non-sensical. If the probability is 10% (p=0.1), and the number of systems is 11 (n=11), then you get 1/(1 - 11*0.1) which is -10.
I tried working this out, but I think the original was correct.
The cases where the answer is negative correspond to a 'runaway scenario' where every change is expected to cause more than 1 extra change. So the answer is 'nonsensical' (because that is indeed where the formula for geometric series no longer works) but the true answer is infinity.