I'm at a place I'm allowed to throw a dart at a target. Each time I throw it, I can hit either the 50-point mark or the 25-point mark, but not any other place and not simultaneously. After I've thrown my n-th throw, my rank score ( X ( n ) ), calculated between 0 and 1, without dimensions or units, is the fraction of the cumulative number of points I have earned per the largest number of points I can possibly have gotten.
If I throw a lot of darts, I would roughly hit seven 50-point mark for every twelve 25-point mark hit. Then, if I throw many, many darts, the X ( n ) score settles on a certain number. What is that number, reporting using three significant (non-zero) digits?
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
Hi Amal, I think this is a very entertaining, interesting solution. You're laconic in your statement of the solution.
If you believe anything's missing or incorrect in the solution, please feel free to openly share your concerns.
The first paragraph introduces X as a function of n , and the second paragraph imposes "initial conditions" (coming from diffy-Q parlance), and both pieces of information are crucial to solving the problem.
After my n -th throw, I've thrown a -number of 50-point throws and b number of 25-point throws. Here these numbers are reported so that their sum is equal to n . The number of points I've gotten is their linear combination: 5 0 a + 2 5 b . The maximum number of points is when I've hit the 50-point mark every time: 5 0 n . So my X fraction looks like:
X ( n ) = 5 0 n 5 0 a + 2 5 b
The second paragraph relates the numbers a and b to my n . Let's say there had been nineteen throws. I've hit seven 50-point marks and twelve 25-point marks. So the proportion of a and b inside every sample of n is:
n a = 1 9 7
n b = 1 9 1 2
I rewrite the set of equations:
a = 1 9 7 n
b = 1 9 1 2 n
I rewrite X ( n ) as a function of just n alone:
X ( n ) = 5 0 n 5 0 ( 1 9 7 ) n + 2 5 ( 1 9 1 2 ) n
The problem asks for the limit of X as n → ∞ , which I calculate using Wolfram|Alpha for free.
X → 1 9 1 3
Is what that machine tells me. I can use a calculator to get those decimals, which begin with the sequence 0.684. That is the answer I'll report here.
Thank you,
-YuJin
Actually, you don't have to use Wolframalpha for the limit because the n s in the fraction cancel out and X ( n ) is just constant for all n .
The limit just makes sure the definitions a = 1 9 7 n and b = 1 9 1 2 n get more and more accurate.
You are brilliant, Henry!
Problem Loading...
Note Loading...
Set Loading...
Let x denote one round where x = 1 2 + 7 = 1 9 darts
We have a total of 2 5 × 1 2 + 5 0 × 7 = 6 5 0 points per round,
Maximum points that is possible = 5 0 × 1 9 = 9 5 0
Now we can calculate average point gain per dart = x 6 5 0
and maximum points per dart = x 9 5 0
Ratio of points per dart to max points per dart = 9 5 0 x 6 5 0 x
= 9 5 6 5
= 0 . 6 8 4