Crossing Roads

In a city located on the Cartesian plane, every line in the form of x = k x=k and y = l y=l , where k , l Z k,l \in \mathbb{Z} , represents a street, and every point ( x , y ) (x,y) where x , y Z x,y \in \mathbb{Z} represents an intersection (note that the positive y y direction indicates North and the positive x x direction indicates East). A student wants to walk from his school located at ( 0 , 0 ) (0,0) to his house located at ( 5 , 5 ) (5,5) . He takes one minute to travel a block (i.e. one unit) and can only travel on the streets. Also, because he wants to get to his house as fast as possible, he is only willing to take the shortest route possible (i.e. 10 units).

At each intersection, there is a traffic light that switches every minute, meaning that if the student wants to move North but the traffic light shows red in that direction, he has to wait for exactly one minute before he can continue walking, or he can choose to walk East instead (assume that the traffic light switches as soon as he reaches an intersection). This means that at every intersection, the probability that he hits a red light in one certain direction is 50 % 50\% , and that if the light is red in one direction, it is green in the other. The student is smart—he does not wait for the traffic light to switch unless he has to (he has to wait for the light to switch if he is, for example, at point ( 5 , 1 ) (5,1) and the light only allows him to move East). Note that he has to cross 10 10 intersections in total.

Assuming that the time the student takes to cross the road is negligible, the average time (in minutes) he takes to walk from his school to his house can be represented by ( 10 + m n ) (10+\frac{m}{n}) , where m , n m,n are co-prime positive integers. Find m + n m+n .

Clarification: The question would be less confusing if you imagine the student driving a car rather than walking. However, still keep in mind that the student is allowed to change direction even with a red light in front of him, unlike driving in real life.

By the way, check out Crossing Roads 2 .


The answer is 571.

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1 solution

Sam Zhou
Jun 2, 2019

We can think of the problem this way:

He walks 10 blocks without waiting at all for the traffic lights to turn (so he may not end at his house). This means that the student has a 50 % 50\% chance of moving North and a 50 % 50\% chance of moving East at any intersection. As his house is at ( 5 , 5 ) (5,5) , if he moves more than 5 5 blocks in one of the directions, he is "penalized" one minute for every "wrong" block he walks on top of the 10 10 minutes he needs to walk 10 10 blocks (e.g. if he turns out to walk 6 6 blocks North and 4 4 blocks East, he is "penalized" for one minute, as in the actual situation, instead of walking the last block North, he will instead wait for the traffic light to turn so that he can walk a block East).

The probability of him walking a a blocks in one direction and ( 10 a ) (10-a) blocks in the other direction is 10 C a 2 10 × 2 = 10 C a 2 9 \frac{10C_{a}}{2^{10}} \times 2=\frac{10C_{a}}{2^{9}} (except the case where he walks 5 5 blocks in each direction, where the × 2 \times 2 is not needed), as the total number of ways he can walk 10 10 blocks is 2 10 2^{10} . Therefore, the total time he is "penalized" for is

5 10 C 0 2 9 + 4 10 C 1 2 9 + 3 10 C 2 2 9 + 2 10 C 3 2 9 + 1 10 C 4 2 9 + 0 10 C 5 2 10 = 315 256 5\frac{10C_{0}}{2^{9}}+4\frac{10C_{1}}{2^{9}}+3\frac{10C_{2}}{2^{9}}+2\frac{10C_{3}}{2^{9}}+1\frac{10C_{4}}{2^{9}}+0\frac{10C_{5}}{2^{10}}=\frac{315}{256}

As m = 315 m=315 and n = 256 n=256 , the answer is 571 \boxed{571} .

Why would a red traffic light to the north stop a pedestrian wanting to travel north if he approaches the intersection from the west?

Malcolm Rich - 2 years ago

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In the context of this question, the student always approaches the intersection at a point where there are streets on the North and on the East of him. I know in reality, he can switch direction after crossing an intersection (i.e. crossing North and then immediately turning East), but this does not apply to this question.

Sam Zhou - 2 years ago

So for the question to make sense we should imagine that this person is driving a car.

Malcolm Rich - 2 years ago

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Exactly! I didn't think of that while making the question :\ Would have made it a lot clearer.

Sam Zhou - 2 years ago

It's quite an ingenious solution actually.

Malcolm Rich - 2 years ago

I get that my interpretation doesn't make sense in the context of normal traffic lights, but you should clarify the word "switch" means to go from (North-Closed, East-Open) to (North-Open, East-Closed).

I read it as the North and East traffic lights were independent. So you could have Both ways closed at once.

This lead to a rather different problem.

Alex Burgess - 2 years ago

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True, but I did clarify in the question that "if the light is red in one direction, it is green in the other."

Sam Zhou - 2 years ago

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So you did, do you mind if I write the question where they are independent?

Alex Burgess - 2 years ago

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@Alex Burgess I wouldn't mind. In fact, I'm interested in finding the solution to the altered problem.

Sam Zhou - 2 years ago

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@Sam Zhou Put it here: Crossing Roads 2

Not sure of a good way to solve it though.

Alex Burgess - 2 years ago

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@Alex Burgess I basically did your way and got it right (I did it by hand though so it was rough).

Sam Zhou - 2 years ago

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@Sam Zhou Same. I did it in binary, which kind of helped... but got a bit painful.

Alex Burgess - 2 years ago

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