Socks everyday

Probability Level pending

In a drawer Sandy has 5 pairs of socks, each pair a different color. On Monday, Sandy selects two individual socks at random from the 10 socks in the drawer. On Tuesday, Sandy selects 2 of the remaining 8 socks at random and on Wednesday, two of the remaining 6 socks at random. The probability that Wednesday is the first day Sandy selects matching socks is m n \dfrac{m}{n} , where m m and n n are coprime positive integers. Find m + n m+n .


The answer is 341.

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1 solution

Duy Anh Tran Le
Apr 18, 2016

Let the fifth sock be arbitrary; the probability that the sixth sock matches in color is 1 9 \dfrac{1}{9} .

Assuming this, then let the first sock be arbitrary; the probability that the second sock does not match is 6 7 . \dfrac{6}{7}.

The only "hard" part is the third and fourth sock. But that is simple casework. If the third sock's color matches the color of one of the first two socks (which occurs with probability 2 6 = 1 3 ) \dfrac{2}{6} = \dfrac{1}{3}) , then the fourth sock can be arbitrary. Otherwise (with probability 2 3 ) \dfrac{2}{3}) , the fourth sock can be chosen with probability 4 5 \dfrac{4}{5} (5 socks left, 1 sock that can possibly match the third sock's color). The desired probability is thus 1 9 6 7 ( 1 3 + 2 3 4 5 ) = 26 315 . \frac{1}{9} \cdot \frac{6}{7} \cdot (\dfrac{1}{3} + \dfrac{2}{3} \cdot \dfrac{4}{5}) = \frac{26}{315}. The answer is 341 \boxed{341} .

You're just copying from this solution

Pham Khanh - 5 years, 1 month ago

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