We investigate the effective resistance $R_n$ and conductance $C_n$ between the root and leaves of a binary tree of height $n$. In this electrical network, the resistance of each edge $e$ at distance $d$ from the root is defined by $r_e=2^dX_e$ where
the $X_e$ are i.i.d. positive random variables bounded away from zero and infinity. It is shown that $mathbf{E}R_n=nmathbf{E}X_e-(operatorname {mathbf{Var}}(X_e)/mathbf{E}X_e)ln n+O(1)$ and $operatorname {mathbf{Var}}(R_n)=O(1)$. Moreover, we establish sub-Gaussian tail bounds for $R_n$. We also discuss some possible extensions to supercritical Galton--Watson trees.
We prove an analogue of the classical ballot theorem that holds for any random walk in the range of attraction of the normal distribution. Our result is best possible: we exhibit examples demonstrating that if any of our hypotheses are removed, our conclusions may no longer hold.
