2018 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 6

A box contains $5$ chips, numbered $1$ , $2$ , $3$ , $4$ , and $5$ . Chips are drawn randomly one at a time without replacement until the sum of the values drawn exceeds $4$ . What is the probability that $3$ draws are required?

$\textbf{(A)} \frac{1}{15} \qquad \textbf{(B)} \frac{1}{10} \qquad \textbf{(C)} \frac{1}{6} \qquad \textbf{(D)} \frac{1}{5} \qquad \textbf{(E)} \frac{1}{4}$

Solution 1

Notice that the only two ways such that more than $2$ draws are required are $1,2$ ; $1,3$ ; $2,1$ ; and $3,1$ . Notice that each of those cases has a $\frac{1}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{4}$ chance, so the answer is $\frac{1}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{4} \cdot 4 = \frac{1}{5}$ , or $\boxed{D}$ .

Solution 2

Notice that only the first two draws are important, it doesn't matter what number we get third because no matter what combination of $3$ numbers is picked, the sum will always be greater than 5. Also, note that it is necessary to draw a $1$ in order to have 3 draws, otherwise $5$ will be attainable in two or less draws. So the probability of getting a $1$ is $\frac{1}{5}$ . It is necessary to pull either a $2$ or $3$ on the next draw and the probability of that is $\frac{1}{2}$ . But, the order of the draws can be switched so we get:

$\frac{1}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{2} \cdot 2 = \frac{1}{5}$ , or $\boxed {D}$

By: Soccer_JAMS

2018 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 5	Followed by Problem 7
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.

Page

Toolbox

Search

2018 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 6

Solution 1

Solution 2

See Also