Capturerecapture estimate The capturerecapture method may be

(Capture-recapture estimate) The capture-recapture method may be used to estimate the size of a wildlife population. Sippose there are N animals in an area. The number N is unknown. Five animals are captured, tagged and released. Few months later, five animals are captured, and it is found that two of them are tagged.

(a) Find the probability of the event that two out of five recaptured animals were previously captured, with N=10. Repeat this for N=11,12,13. Which values of N gives the largest probability of such event?

(b) Based on your answer, what is your best guess for the size of a wildlife population, N?

Solution