Difference between revisions of "2019 AIME II Problems/Problem 2"

Revision as of 21:02, 22 March 2019

Problem 2

Lily pads $1,2,3,\ldots$ lie in a row on a pond. A frog makes a sequence of jumps starting on pad $1$ . From any pad $k$ the frog jumps to either pad $k+1$ or pad $k+2$ chosen randomly with probability $\tfrac{1}{2}$ and independently of other jumps. The probability that the frog visits pad $7$ is $\tfrac{p}{q}$ , where $p$ and $q$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $p+q$ .

Solution

Let $P_n$ be the probability the frog visits pad $7$ starting from pad $n$ . Then $P_7 = 1$ , $P_6 = \frac12$ , and $P_n = \frac12(P_{n + 1} + P_{n + 2})$ for all integers $1 \leq n \leq 5$ . Working our way down, we find $P_5 = \frac{3}{4}$ $P_4 = \frac{5}{8}$ $P_3 = \frac{11}{16}$ $P_2 = \frac{21}{32}$ $P_1 = \frac{43}{64}$ $43 + 64 = \boxed{107}$ .

Solution 2(Casework)

Define a one jump to be a jump from k to K + 1 and a two jump to be a jump from k to k + 2.

Case 1: (6 one jumps) (1/2)^6 = 1/64

Case 2: (4 one jumps and 1 two jumps) 5C1 x (1/2)^5 = 5/32

Case 3: (2 one jumps and 2 two jumps) 4C2 x (1/2)^4 = 3/8

Case 4: (3 two jumps) (1/2)^3 = 1/8

Summing the probabilities gives us 43/64 so the answer is 107.

- pi_is_3.14

Solution 3 (easiest)

Let $P_n$ be the probability that the frog lands on lily pad $n$ . The probability that the frog never lands on pad $n$ is $\frac{1}{2}P_{n-1}$ , so $1-P_n=\frac{1}{2}P_{n-1}$ . This rearranges to $P_n=1-\frac{1}{2}P_{n-1}$ , and we know that $P_1=1$ , so we can compute $P_7$ to be $\frac{43}{64}$ , meaning that our answer is $\boxed{107}$

-Stormersyle

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 - pi_is_3.14
+==Solution 3 (easiest)==
+Let <math>P_n</math> be the probability that the frog lands on lily pad <math>n</math>. The probability that the frog never lands on pad <math>n</math> is <math>\frac{1}{2}P_{n-1}</math>, so <math>1-P_n=\frac{1}{2}P_{n-1}</math>. This rearranges to <math>P_n=1-\frac{1}{2}P_{n-1}</math>, and we know that <math>P_1=1</math>, so we can compute <math>P_7</math> to be <math>\frac{43}{64}</math>, meaning that our answer is <math>\boxed{107}</math>
+-Stormersyle
 ==See Also==
 {{AIME box|year=2019|n=II|num-b=1|num-a=3}}
 {{MAA Notice}}

2019 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 1	Followed by Problem 3
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

Page

Toolbox

Search