2023 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 21

Problem

Each of 2023 balls is randomly placed into one of 3 bins. Which of the following is closest to the probability that each of the bins will contain an odd number of balls?

Solution 1

We first examine the possible arrangements for parity of number of balls in each box for $2022$ balls.

If a $0$ denotes an even number and a $1$ denotes an odd number, then the distribution of balls for $2022$ balls could be $000,011,101,$ or $110$ . With the insanely overpowered magic of cheese, we assume that each case is about equally likely.

From $000$ , it is not possible to get to all odd by adding one ball; we could either get $100,010,$ or $001$ . For the other $3$ cases, though, if we add a ball to the exact right place, then it'll work.

For each of the working cases, we have $1$ possible slot the ball can go into (for $101$ , for example, the new ball must go in the center slot to make $111$ ) out of the $3$ slots, so there's a $\dfrac13$ chance. We have a $\dfrac34$ chance of getting one of these working cases, so our answer is $\dfrac34\cdot\dfrac13=\boxed{\textbf{(E) }\dfrac14.}$

~Technodoggo

Solution 2

We will start with all the balls outside of the boxes, and distribute them as follows:

We put $x$ balls into the first box. There is (obviously) a roughly $\frac{1}{2}$ probability $x$ is odd (It's okay to not use the exact probability since the problem asks for the closest answer choice, and the answer choices aren't very close to each other).

We put $y$ balls into the second box. There is also a roughly $\frac{1}{2}$ probability $y$ is odd.

If both $x$ and $y$ are odd, then the number of balls which go into the third box must also be odd, since 2023 is odd. Additionally, $x$ and $y$ clearly must both be odd in order for the problem conditions to be satisfied.

Therefore our answer is the probability both $x$ and $y$ are odd, which is approximately $\frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{2}=\boxed{\textbf{(E) }\dfrac14.}$

~kjljixx

Solution 3

We use the generating functions approach to solve this problem. Define $\Delta = \left\{ \left( a, b, c \right) \in \Bbb Z_+: a+b+c = 2023 \right\}$ .

We have $\left( x + y + z \right)^{2023} = \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} x^a y^b z^c .$

First, we set $x \leftarrow 1$ , $y \leftarrow 1$ , $z \leftarrow 1$ . We get $3^{2023} = \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} 1 . \hspace{1cm} (1)$

Second, we set $x \leftarrow 1$ , $y \leftarrow -1$ , $z \leftarrow 1$ . We get $1 = \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} (-1)^b . \hspace{1cm} (2)$

Third, we set $x \leftarrow 1$ , $y \leftarrow 1$ , $z \leftarrow -1$ . We get $1 = \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} (-1)^c . \hspace{1cm} (3)$

Fourth, we set $x \leftarrow 1$ , $y \leftarrow -1$ , $z \leftarrow -1$ . We get $-1 = \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} (-1)^{b+c} . \hspace{1cm} (4)$

Taking $\frac{(1)-(2) - (3)+(4)}{4}$ , we get $\begin{align*} \frac{3^{2023} - 1 - 1 + (-1)}{4} & = \frac{1}{4} \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} \left( 1 - (-1)^b - (-1)^c + (-1)^{b+c} \right) \\ & = \frac{1}{4} \sum_{(a,b,c) \in \Delta} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} \left( 1 - (-1)^b \right) \left( 1 - (-1)^c \right) \\ & = \sum_{\substack{(a,b,c) \in \Delta \\ a, b, c \mbox{ are odds}}} \binom{2023}{a,b,c} . \end{align*}$

The last expression above is the number of ways to get all three bins with odd numbers of balls. Therefore, this happens with probability $\begin{align*} \frac{\frac{3^{2023} - 1 - 1 + (-1)}{4}}{3^{2023}} & \approx \boxed{\textbf{(E) } \frac{1}{4}}. \end{align*}$

~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)

Solution 4

First, we find the number of ways we can split $2023$ into the sum of $3$ odd numbers. Because each bin must have an odd number of balls, we can set up the equation $\begin{align*} (2a+1)+(2b+1)+(2c+1)=2023 \end{align*}$ for positive integers $a,b,c.$

Simplifying, we get $a+b+c=1010$ , which we can represent using stars and bars as $\binom{1010+3-1}{3-1}=\binom{1012}{2}=\frac{1012 \cdot 1011}{2}=506 \cdot 1011.$

By stars and bars, the total number of ways to put $2023$ balls into $3$ bins with no restrictions is $\binom{2023+3-1}{3-1}=\binom{2025}{2}=\frac{2025 \cdot 2024}{2}=2025 \cdot 1012.$

Therefore, the probability that all bins contain an odd number of balls is $\frac{506 \cdot 1011}{2025 \cdot 1012}.$ Since $\frac{506}{2025}\approx \frac{1}{4}$ and $\frac{1011}{1012}\approx 1,$ this is approximately equal to $\frac{1}{4} \cdot 1=\boxed{\textbf{(E) } \frac{1}{4}}.$

~Teddybear0629

Solution 5

We can distribute the three odd balls to each of the bins first and divide by $2$ , leaving $1010$ balls to be distributed. This forces the number of balls in each bin to be odd. There are ${1012 \choose 1010}$ ways to sort the balls by Stars and Bars.