2005 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 14

Revision as of 15:01, 23 September 2007 by Azjps (talk | contribs) (solution)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Problem

On a standard die one of the dots is removed at random with each dot equally likely to be chosen. The die is then rolled. What is the probability that the top face has an odd number of dots?

$(\mathrm {A}) \ \frac{5}{11} \qquad (\mathrm {B}) \ \frac{10}{21} \qquad (\mathrm {C})\ \frac{1}{2} \qquad (\mathrm {D}) \ \frac{11}{21} \qquad (\mathrm {E})\ \frac{6}{11}$

Solution

There are $1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21$ dots total. Casework:

  • The dot is removed from an even face. There is a $\frac{2+4+6}{21} = \frac{4}{7}$ chance of this happening. Then there are 4 odd faces, giving us a probability of $\frac 47\frac 46 = \frac{8}{21}$.
  • The dot is removed from an odd face. There is a $\frac{1+3+5}{21} = \frac{3}{7}$ chance of this happening. Then there are 2 odd faces, giving us a probability of $\frac 37\frac 26 = \frac{1}{7}$.

Thus the answer is $\frac 8{21} + \frac 17 = \frac{11}{21} \Longrightarrow \mathrm{(D)}$.

See also

2005 AMC 12A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 13
Followed by
Problem 15
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