Difference between revisions of "2020 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 18"
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The same goes for the blue ones. The numerator must equal <math>(1 \cdot 2)^2</math>. | The same goes for the blue ones. The numerator must equal <math>(1 \cdot 2)^2</math>. | ||
− | Therefore, the probability for each of the orderings of <math>RRBB</math> is <math>\frac{4}{120}=\frac{1}{30}</math>. There are 6 of these, so the total probability is <math>\boxed{(B) \frac{1}{5}}</math>. | + | Therefore, the probability for each of the orderings of <math>RRBB</math> is <math>\frac{4}{120}=\frac{1}{30}</math>. There are 6 of these, so the total probability is <math>\boxed{\bf{(B)} \frac{1}{5}}</math>. |
==Video Solution== | ==Video Solution== |
Revision as of 19:49, 8 February 2020
Contents
[hide]Problem
An urn contains one red ball and one blue ball. A box of extra red and blue balls lie nearby. George performs the following operation four times: he draws a ball from the urn at random and then takes a ball of the same color from the box and returns those two matching balls to the urn. After the four iterations the urn contains six balls. What is the probability that the urn contains three balls of each color?
Solution
Let denote that George selects a red ball and that he selects a blue one. Now, in order to get balls of each color, he needs more of both and .
There are 6 cases: (we can confirm that there are only since ). However we can clump , , and together since they are equivalent by symmetry.
and
Let's find the probability that he picks the balls in the order of .
The probability that the first ball he picks is red is .
Now there are reds and blue in the urn. The probability that he picks red again is now .
There are reds and blue now. The probability that he picks a blue is .
Finally, there are reds and blues. The probability that he picks a blue is .
So the probability that the case happens is . However, since the case is the exact same by symmetry, case 1 has a probability of chance of happening.
and
Let's find the probability that he picks the balls in the order of .
The probability that the first ball he picks is red is .
Now there are reds and blue in the urn. The probability that he picks blue is .
There are reds and blues now. The probability that he picks a red is .
Finally, there are reds and blues. The probability that he picks a blue is .
So the probability that the case happens is . However, since the case is the exact same by symmetry, case 2 has a probability of chance of happening.
and
Let's find the probability that he picks the balls in the order of .
The probability that the first ball he picks is red is .
Now there are reds and blue in the urn. The probability that he picks blue is .
There are reds and blues now. The probability that he picks a blue is .
Finally, there are reds and blues. The probability that he picks a red is .
So the probability that the case happens is . However, since the case is the exact same by symmetry, case 3 has a probability of chance of happening.
Adding up the cases, we have ~quacker88
Solution 2
We know that we need to find the probability of adding 2 red and 2 blue balls in some order. There are 6 ways to do this, since there are ways to arrange in some order. We will show that the probability for each of these 6 ways is the same.
We first note that the denominators should be counted by the same number. This number is . This is because 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent how many choices there are for the four steps. No matter what the step involves numbers to choose from.
The numerators are the number of successful operations. No matter the order, the first time a red is added will come from 1 choice and the second time will come from 2 choices, since that is how many reds are in the urn originally. The same goes for the blue ones. The numerator must equal .
Therefore, the probability for each of the orderings of is . There are 6 of these, so the total probability is .
Video Solution
~IceMatrix
See Also
2020 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 17 |
Followed by Problem 19 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 | ||
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions |
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