Difference between revisions of "2021 Fall AMC 10A Problems/Problem 21"

(Solution 2 (Simple))
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  12 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 16</math>
 
  12 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 16</math>
  
==Solution 1 (Multinomial Numbers)==
+
==Solution 1 (Multinomial Coefficients)==
 
For simplicity purposes, we assume that the balls are indistinguishable and the bins are distinguishable.
 
For simplicity purposes, we assume that the balls are indistinguishable and the bins are distinguishable.
  

Revision as of 23:39, 22 November 2021

Problem

Each of the $20$ balls is tossed independently and at random into one of the $5$ bins. Let $p$ be the probability that some bin ends up with $3$ balls, another with $5$ balls, and the other three with $4$ balls each. Let $q$ be the probability that every bin ends up with $4$ balls. What is $\frac{p}{q}$?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\  4 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\  8 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\  12 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 16$

Solution 1 (Multinomial Coefficients)

For simplicity purposes, we assume that the balls are indistinguishable and the bins are distinguishable.

Let $d$ be the number of ways to distribute $20$ balls into $5$ bins. We have \[p=\frac{5\cdot4\cdot\binom{20}{3,5,4,4,4}}{d} \text{ and } q=\frac{\binom{20}{4,4,4,4,4}}{d}.\] Therefore, the answer is \[\frac pq=\frac{5\cdot4\cdot\binom{20}{3,5,4,4,4}}{\binom{20}{4,4,4,4,4}}=\frac{5\cdot4\cdot\frac{20!}{3!5!4!4!4!}}{\frac{20!}{4!4!4!4!4!}}=\frac{5\cdot4\cdot(4!4!4!4!4!)}{3!5!4!4!4!}=\frac{5\cdot4\cdot4}{5}=\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ 16}.\]

Remark

By the stars and bars argument, we get $d=\binom{20+5-1}{5-1}=\binom{24}{4}.$

~MRENTHUSIASM

Solution 2 (Simple)

Since both of the boxes will have $3$ boxes with $4$ balls in them, we can leave those out. There are $\binom {6}{3}$ = $20$ ways to choose where to place the $3$ and the $5$. After that, there are $\binom {8}{3} = 56$ ways to put the $3$ and $5$ balls being put into the boxes. For the $4,4,4,4,4$ case, after we canceled the $4,4,4$ out, we have $\binom {8}{4}$ = $70$ ways to put the $4$ balls inside the boxes. Therefore, we have $\frac {56\cdot 20}{70}$ which is equal to $8 \cdot 2$ = $\boxed {(E)16}$

~Arcticturn

Video Solution by Punxsutawney Phil

https://YouTube.com/watch?v=bvd2VjMxiZ4

See Also

2021 Fall AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 20
Followed by
Problem 22
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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