2021 Fall AMC 10A Problems/Problem 9

Revision as of 21:03, 25 November 2021 by Stevenyiweichen (talk | contribs) (Solution 2)

Problem

When a certain unfair die is rolled, an even number is $3$ times as likely to appear as an odd number. The die is rolled twice. What is the probability that the sum of the numbers rolled is even?

$\textbf{(A)}\ \frac{3}{8}  \qquad\textbf{(B)}\  \frac{4}{9} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\  \frac{5}{9} \qquad\textbf{(D)}\  \frac{9}{16} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{5}{8}$

Solution 1

Since an even number is $3$ times more likely to appear than an odd number, the probability of an even number appearing is $\frac{3}{4}$. Since the problem states that the sum of the two die must be even, the numbers must both be even or both be odd. We either have EE or OO, so we have \[\frac{3}{4}\cdot \frac{3}{4} + \frac{1}{4} \cdot \frac{1}{4} = \frac {1}{16} + \frac {9}{16} = \frac{10}{16} = \boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{5}{8}}.\]

~Arcticturn ~Aidensharp

Solution 2

Denote by $p$ the probability of getting an even number. Hence, $p = \frac{3}{4}$.

To get the sum of the numbers rolled twice even, these two numbers are either both even or both odd.

Therefore, the probability is \begin{align*} p^2 + \left( 1 - p \right)^2 = \frac{5}{8} . \end{align*}

Therefore, the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(E) }\frac{5}{8}}$.

~Steven Chen (www.professorchenedu.com)

See Also

2021 Fall AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 8
Followed by
Problem 10
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 10 Problems and Solutions

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