2001 AIME I Problems/Problem 10

Revision as of 17:04, 12 June 2008 by Azjps (talk | contribs) (solution (written by JesusFreak197))

Problem

Let $S$ be the set of points whose coordinates $x,$ $y,$ and $z$ are integers that satisfy $0\le x\le2,$ $0\le y\le3,$ and $0\le z\le4.$ Two distinct points are randomly chosen from $S.$ The probability that the midpoint of the segment they determine also belongs to $S$ is $m/n,$ where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m + n.$

Solution

The distance between the $x$, $y$, and $z$ coordinates must be even so that the midpoint can have integer coordinates. Therefore,

  • For $x$, we have the possibilities $(0,0)$, $(1,1)$, $(2,2)$, $(0,2)$, and $(2,0)$, $5$ possibilities.
  • For $y$, we have the possibilities $(0,0)$, $(1,1)$, $(2,2)$, $(3,3)$, $(0,2)$, $(2,0)$, $(1,3)$, and $(3,1)$, $8$ possibilities.
  • For $z$, we have the possibilities $(0,0)$, $(1,1)$, $(2,2)$, $(3,3)$, $(4,4)$, $(0,2)$, $(0,4)$, $(2,0)$, $(4,0)$, $(2,4)$, $(4,2)$, $(1,3)$, and $(3,1)$, $13$ possibilities.

However, we have $3\cdot 4\cdot 5 = 60$ cases where we have simply taken the same point twice, so we subtract those. Therefore, our answer is $\frac {5\cdot 8\cdot 13 - 60}{60\cdot 59} = \frac {23}{177}\Longrightarrow m+n = \boxed{200}$.

See also

2001 AIME I (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 9
Followed by
Problem 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions