Heavy black ball?

Three balls of different weights are randomly painted red, black and white.

The red ball is found to be heavier than the white ball.

What is the probability that the black ball is heavier than the white ball?


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1 4 \dfrac{1}{4} 2 3 \dfrac{2}{3} 0 0 1 2 \dfrac{1}{2} It can't be determined 3 4 \dfrac{3}{4} 1 3 \dfrac{1}{3} 1 1

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2 solutions

Geoff Pilling
Feb 10, 2017

Let r r , b b , and w w be the weights of the red, black and white balls respectively.

Initially there are six possibilities, each with the same probability:

  • r > b > w r > b > w
  • r > w > b r > w > b
  • w > b > r w > b > r
  • w > r > b w > r > b
  • b > r > w b > r > w
  • b > w > r b > w > r

Then we find that red weighs more than white, which rules out the third, fourth and last possibilities.

So, we are left with three possibilities all equally likely:

  • r > b > w r > b > w
  • r > w > b r > w > b
  • b > r > w b > r > w

Two out of three of these involve black being heavier than white.

Therefore, there is a 2 3 \boxed{\frac{2}{3}} probability that the black ball is heavier than the white one.

Kushal Bose
Feb 11, 2017

Let the weight of the balls are W 1 , W 2 , W 3 W_1,W_2,W_3 with W 1 > W 2 > W 3 W_1 > W_2 > W_3

It is given that red ball is heavier than than white ball .

So. we can assign colors like below

W 1 W_1 W 2 W_2 W 3 W_3
R W B
R B W
B R W

From three cases where red ball is heavier than white there are two cases where black ball is heavier than white also

So, probability is 2 3 \dfrac{2}{3}

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