2015 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 22

The following problem is from both the 2015 AMC 12A #17 and 2015 AMC 10A #22, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Eight people are sitting around a circular table, each holding a fair coin. All eight people flip their coins and those who flip heads stand while those who flip tails remain seated. What is the probability that no two adjacent people will stand?

$\textbf{(A)}\dfrac{47}{256}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\dfrac{3}{16}\qquad\textbf{(C) }\dfrac{49}{256}\qquad\textbf{(D) }\dfrac{25}{128}\qquad\textbf{(E) }\dfrac{51}{256}$

Solutions

Solution 1

We will count how many valid standing arrangements there are (counting rotations as distinct), and divide by $2^8 = 256$ at the end. We casework on how many people are standing.

Case $1:$ $0$ people are standing. This yields $1$ arrangement.

Case $2:$ $1$ person is standing. This yields $8$ arrangements.

Case $3:$ $2$ people are standing. This yields $\dbinom{8}{2} - 8 = 20$ arrangements, because the two people cannot be next to each other.

Case $4:$ $4$ people are standing. Then the people must be arranged in stand-sit-stand-sit-stand-sit-stand-sit fashion, yielding $2$ possible arrangements.

More difficult is:

Case $5:$ $3$ people are standing. First, choose the location of the first person standing ( $8$ choices). Next, choose $2$ of the remaining people in the remaining $5$ legal seats to stand, amounting to $6$ arrangements considering that these two people cannot stand next to each other. However, we have to divide by $3,$ because there are $3$ ways to choose the first person given any three. This yields $\dfrac{8 \cdot 6}{3} = 16$ arrangements for Case $5.$

Alternate Case $5:$ Use complementary counting. Total number of ways to choose 3 people from 8 which is $\dbinom{8}{3}$ . Sub-case $1:$ three people are next to each other which is $\dbinom{8}{1}$ . Sub-case $2:$ two people are next to each other and the third person is not $\dbinom{8}{1}$ $\dbinom{4}{1}$ . This yields $\dbinom{8}{3} - \dbinom{8}{1} - \dbinom{8}{1} \dbinom{4}{1} = 16$

Summing gives $1 + 8 + 20 + 2 + 16 = 47,$ and so our probability is $\boxed{\textbf{(A) } \dfrac{47}{256}}$ .

Solution 2

We will count how many valid standing arrangements there are counting rotations as distinct and divide by $256$ at the end. Line up all $8$ people linearly. In order for no two people standing to be adjacent, we will place a sitting person to the right of each standing person. In effect, each standing person requires $2$ spaces and the standing people are separated by sitting people. We just need to determine the number of combinations of pairs and singles and the problem becomes very similar to pirates and gold aka stars and bars aka sticks and stones aka balls and urns.

If there are $4$ standing, there are ${4 \choose 4}=1$ ways to place them. For $3,$ there are ${3+2 \choose 3}=10$ ways. etc. Summing, we get ${4 \choose 4}+{5 \choose 3}+{6 \choose 2}+{7 \choose 1}+{8 \choose 0}=1+10+15+7+1=34$ ways.

Now we consider that the far right person can be standing as well, so we have ${3 \choose 3}+{4 \choose 2}+{5 \choose 1}+{6 \choose 0}=1+6+5+1=13$ ways

Together we have $34+13=47$ , and so our probability is $\boxed{\textbf{(A) } \dfrac{47}{256}}$ .

Video Solution by Richard Rusczyk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krlnSWWp0I0

2015 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 21	Followed by Problem 23
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2015 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 16	Followed by Problem 18
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 12 Problems and Solutions

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