An explicit solution for the number of minimal p-cutsequences in a consecutive-k-out of-n:F system

R.C. Bollinger and A.A. Salvia (see ibid., vol. R-34, p. 43-5, Apr. 1985) proposed an approach to study the failure-time distribution of a consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system by studying the number of minimal p-cutsequences. They gave recursive equations to compute this number for independent identically distributed components. It is shown that the recursive equations have an explicit solution