Go ahead, pick two

There are some red balls and some black balls in a bag.

You reach in and grab two balls at random.

The probability that you picked one ball of each color is exactly 0.5.

Which of these numbers is a possible choice for the number of red balls that were originally in the bag?

Clarification: "All of them" and "None of them" refer only to the numerical answers provided, not to each other! (No this isn't a logic question in disguise! ;) )


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400 5 102 All of them 512 210 813 None of them

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2 solutions

Geoff Pilling
Jun 7, 2016

If you start with m m red balls and n n black balls, then the probability that you pick two different balls is given by:

P ( m , n ) = m × n ( m + n 2 ) P(m,n) = \frac{m \times n}{\binom{m+n}{2}}

This only equals 0.5 0.5 only if m m and n n are consecutive triangular numbers, i.e. T i T_i and T i + 1 T_{i+1} where T i = 1 + 2 + . . . + i T_i = 1 + 2 + ... + i

The only triangular number in the list is 210 \boxed{210}

Why do m m and n n have to be consecutive triangular numbers?

Sam Bealing - 4 years, 11 months ago
Sam Bealing
Jun 21, 2016

If we let n n be the number of balls in the bag and r r be the number of red balls we have:

r n × n r n 1 + n r n × r n 1 = 0.5 \dfrac{r}{n} \times \dfrac{n-r}{n-1}+\dfrac{n-r}{n} \times \dfrac{r}{n-1}=0.5

2 r ( n r ) n ( n 1 ) = 0.5 \dfrac{2r(n-r)}{n(n-1)}=0.5

4 r n 4 r 2 = n 2 n 4r n-4r^2=n^2-n

n 2 ( 4 r + 1 ) n + 4 r 2 = 0 n^2-(4r+1)n+4r^2=0

Using the quadratic formula we get:

n = 4 r + 1 ± ( 4 r + 1 ) 2 16 r 2 2 n=\dfrac{4r+1 \pm \sqrt{(4r+1)^2-16r^2}}{2}

n = 4 r + 1 ± 8 r + 1 2 n=\dfrac{4r+1 \pm \sqrt{8r+1}}{2}

Hence it follows that 8 r + 1 8r+1 is a perfect square.Quickly checking the options shows the only suitable value of r r is r = 210 r=210 .

r = 210 , n = 441 or 400 \color{#20A900}{\boxed{\boxed{r=210,n=441 \text{ or } 400}}}

Moderator note:

What does the condition that 8 r + 1 8r+1 has to be a perfect square tell us? How can we classify all possible values of ( n , r ) (n,r) that are solutions?

Nice write up, @Sam Bealing !

Geoff Pilling - 4 years, 11 months ago

What does the condition that 8 r + 1 8r+1 has to be a perfect square tell us? How can we classify all possible values of ( n , r ) (n,r) that are solutions?

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 11 months ago

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