The Beetle on the Meter Stick

A beetle sits at the 17 17 cm mark of a meter stick whose marks run from 0 0 to 100 100 . Once per second it steps 1 1 cm left or 1 1 cm right, each with probability 12 \frac{1}{2} , independently of all previous steps. The instant it reaches the 0 0 mark or the 100 100 mark it walks off the end and is done. What is the expected number of seconds until the beetle leaves the stick?

Answer

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