Balls in bags

There are 2 balls in a bag. Each of which is either Green or Red (with equal odds).

You add 1 red ball to the bag, and then take 1 out at random. It's Red.

You add 1 red ball to the bag, and then take 1 out at random. It's Red.

You add 3 red balls to the bag, and then take 3 out at random. They are all Red.


Let a b \frac{a}{b} be the probability the original balls were both Red, (where a a and b b are coprime).

What is a + b a+b ?


The answer is 71.

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3 solutions

Patrick Corn
May 1, 2020

Let's let the event be E . E. Then Bayes' theorem says P ( R R E ) = P ( E R R ) P ( R R ) P ( E ) . P(RR|E) = \frac{P(E|RR)P(RR)}{P(E)}. Now P ( E R R ) = 1 , P(E|RR) = 1, and P ( R R ) = 1 / 4 , P(RR) = 1/4, so the only difficult calculation is P ( E ) . P(E).

But P ( E ) = P ( E G G ) P ( G G ) + P ( E G R ) P ( G R ) + P ( E R R ) P ( R R ) , P(E) = P(E|GG)P(GG) + P(E|GR)P(GR) + P(E|RR)P(RR), and P ( E G G ) = 1 3 1 3 1 10 P ( G G ) = 1 4 P ( E G R ) = 2 3 2 3 2 5 P ( G R ) = 1 2 P ( E R R ) = 1 P ( R R ) = 1 4 \begin{aligned} P(E|GG) &= \frac13 \cdot \frac13 \cdot \frac1{10} \\ P(GG) &= \frac14 \\ P(E|GR) &= \frac23 \cdot \frac23 \cdot \frac25 \\ P(GR) &= \frac12 \\ P(E|RR) &= 1 \\ P(RR) &= \frac14 \end{aligned} so we get P ( R R E ) = 1 / 4 1 / 360 + 4 / 45 + 1 / 4 = 30 41 , P(RR|E) = \frac{1/4}{1/360 + 4/45 + 1/4} = \frac{30}{41}, so the answer is 71 . \fbox{71}.

Why is P(E l GG) = 1/3 * 1/3 * 1/10 I am confused with the 1/10 part

saket goyal - 10 months ago

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If there are three red balls and two green balls in a bag, the probability of three random balls from the bag all being red is 1 / 10. 1/10. This is because ( 5 3 ) = 10. \binom53 = 10.

Patrick Corn - 9 months, 4 weeks ago

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Shouldn't it be 3/5

saket goyal - 9 months, 4 weeks ago

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@Saket Goyal There are ( 5 3 ) \binom{5}{3} ways to choose three balls from the bag, and only one of them gives all red balls.

Patrick Corn - 9 months, 4 weeks ago
Alex Burgess
Apr 28, 2020

Let's go through all cases: Both Green: Adding N Red balls, taking N out at random and them all being Red, has probability 2 ( N + 2 ) ( N + 1 ) \frac{2}{(N+2)(N+1)} . (Probability of picking 2 Green balls to be left).

One Red, One Green (twice as likely): Adding N Red balls, taking N out at random and them all being Red, has probability 2 ( N + 2 ) \frac{2}{(N+2)} . (Probability of picking 1 Green balls with 2 picks to be left).

Both Red: Adding N Red balls, taking N out at random and them all being Red, has probability 1 1 .

Ratios are:

2 : 2 2 ( N + 1 ) : ( N + 2 ) ( N + 1 ) 2 : 2*2(N+1) : (N+2)(N+1)

Doing this multiple times, with N = a , b , c N = a,b,c gives the ratio:

2 3 : 2 2 3 ( a + 1 ) ( b + 1 ) ( c + 1 ) : ( a + 2 ) ( a + 1 ) ( b + 2 ) ( b + 1 ) ( c + 2 ) ( c + 1 ) 2^3 : 2 * 2^3(a+1)(b+1)(c+1) : (a+2)(a+1)(b+2)(b+1)(c+2)(c+1)

Setting a = b = 1 , c = 3 a=b=1, c=3 :

2 3 : 2 2 3 2 4 : 2 4 45 = = 1 : 32 : 90 2^3 : 2 * 2^3 * 2^4 : 2^4 * 45 == 1 : 32 : 90

So the odds that both balls were Red are: 90 123 = 30 41 \frac{90}{123} = \frac{30}{41}

Kris Hauchecorne
May 21, 2020

You start out with rr, gg or gr with respective probabilities 1/4, 1/4 and 2/4.

After adding a red ball and randomly retrieving a ball, what are the chances you retrieve a red ball?

P(r|gg)=1/3

P(r|rr)=1

P(r|gr)=2/3

After that, the situation is back to what it was before you did this. So doing this three times in a row gives these chances:

P(3 times r|gg)=1/27

P(3 times r|rr)=1

P(3 times r|gr)=8/27

P(3 times r AND gg) =1/4*1/27=1/108

P(3 times r AND rr) =1/4*1=1/4=27/108

P(3 times r AND gr) =1/2*8/27=16/108

Therfore p(3 times r) =(1+27+16)/108

P(3 times r AND rr) = P(3 times r) *P(rr|3 times r)

27/108=44/108*P(rr|3 times r)

P(rr|3 times r)=27/44

The answer is 27+44=71.

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