Difference between revisions of "2021 Fall AMC 10A Problems/Problem 13"

Revision as of 20:09, 25 November 2021

Problem

Each of $6$ balls is randomly and independently painted either black or white with equal probability. What is the probability that every ball is different in color from more than half of the other $5$ balls?

$\textbf{(A) } \frac{1}{64}\qquad\textbf{(B) } \frac{1}{6}\qquad\textbf{(C) } \frac{1}{4}\qquad\textbf{(D) } \frac{5}{16}\qquad\textbf{(E) }\frac{1}{2}$

Solution 1

Note that for this restriction to be true, there must be $3$ balls of each color. There are a total of $2^6 = 64$ ways to color the balls, and there are ${6 \choose 3} = 20$ ways for three balls chosen to be painted white. Thus, the answer is $\frac{20}{64} = \boxed{\textbf{(D) } \frac{5}{16}}$ .

-Aidensharp

Solution 2

For this restriction to be upheld, there must be three black and three white balls. One such way for this to occur is the arrangement $BBBWWW$ , which has a $\frac{1}{2^6}$ probability of occuring. However, there are $\frac{6!}{3!\cdot{3!}}$ ways to arrange the three black and three white balls, meaning that the answer is, $\frac{1}{64}\cdot{\frac{6!}{3!\cdot{3!}}} = \boxed{\textbf{(D) } \frac{5}{16}}$ .

~countmath1

Solution 3

To get every ball different in color from more than half of the other 5 balls, we must have 3 black balls and 3 white balls.

Following from the binomial theorem, this happens with probability $\binom{6}{3} \left( \frac{1}{2} \right)^3 \left( 1 - \frac{1}{2} \right)^{6-3} = \frac{5}{16} .$

Therefore, the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(D) }\frac{5}{16}}$ .

~Steven Chen (www.professorchenedu.com)

2021 Fall AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 12	Followed by Problem 14
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

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

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