2000 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 21

Problem

Keiko tosses one penny and Ephraim tosses two pennies. The probability that Ephraim gets the same number of heads that Keiko gets is

$\text{(A)}\ \frac{1}{4}\qquad\text{(B)}\ \frac{3}{8}\qquad\text{(C)}\ \frac{1}{2}\qquad\text{(D)}\ \frac{2}{3}\qquad\text{(E)}\ \frac{3}{4}$

Let $K(n)$ be the probability that Keiko gets $n$ heads, and let $E(n)$ be the probability that Ephriam gets $n$ heads.

$K(0) = \frac{1}{2}$

$K(1) = \frac{1}{2}$

$K(2) = 0$ (Keiko only has one penny!)

$E(0) = \frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{4}$

$E(1) = \frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{2} = 2\cdot\frac{1}{4} = \frac{1}{2}$ (because Ephraim can get HT or TH)

$E(2) = \frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{4}$

The probability that Keiko gets $0$ heads and Ephriam gets $0$ heads is $K(0)\cdot E(0)$ . Similarly for $1$ head and $2$ heads. Thus, we have:

$P = K(0)\cdot E(0) + K(1)\cdot E(1) + K(2)\cdot E(2)$

$P = \frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{2}\cdot\frac{1}{2} + 0$

$P = \frac{3}{8}$

Thus the answer is $\boxed{B}$ .

2000 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 20	Followed by Problem 22
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