2019 AIME I Problems/Problem 2

Problem 2

Jenn randomly chooses a number $J$ from $1, 2, 3,\ldots, 19, 20$ . Bela then randomly chooses a number $B$ from $1, 2, 3,\ldots, 19, 20$ distinct from $J$ . The value of $B - J$ is at least $2$ with a probability that can be expressed in the form $\frac{m}{n}$ where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m+n$ .

Solution

Realize that by symmetry, the desired probability is equal to the probability that $J - B$ is at most $-2$ , which is $\frac{1-P}{2}$ where $P$ is the probability that $B$ and $J$ differ by 1 (no zero, because the two numbers are distinct). There are $20 * 19 = 380$ total possible combinations of $B$ and $J$ , and $1 + 18 * 2 + 1 = 38$ ones that form $P$ , so $P = \frac{38}{380} = \frac{1}{10}$ . Therefore the answer is $\frac{9}{20} \rightarrow \boxed{029}$ .

2019 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 1	Followed by Problem 3
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2019 AIME I Problems/Problem 2

Problem 2

Solution

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