Difference between revisions of "2008 AIME I Problems/Problem 9"
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Revision as of 20:18, 4 July 2013
Problem
Ten identical crates each of dimensions ft
ft
ft. The first crate is placed flat on the floor. Each of the remaining nine crates is placed, in turn, flat on top of the previous crate, and the orientation of each crate is chosen at random. Let
be the probability that the stack of crates is exactly
ft tall, where
and
are relatively prime positive integers. Find
.
Solution
Only the heights matter, and each crate is either 3, 4, or 6 feet tall with equal probability. We have the following:
Subtracting 3 times the third from the first gives , or
. The last doesn't work, obviously. This gives the three solutions
. In terms of choosing which goes where, the first two solutions are analogous.
For , we see that there are
ways to stack the crates. For
, there are
. Also, there are
total ways to stack the crates to any height.
Thus, our probability is . Our answer is the numerator,
.
See also
2008 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 8 |
Followed by Problem 10 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
All AIME Problems and Solutions |
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