2010 AIME II Problem 13

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 13 of the 2010 AIME II, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2010 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:conditional probabilitycombinationsinequality

Difficulty rating: 3060

13.

The 5252 cards in a deck are numbered 1,2,,52.1, 2, \ldots, 52. Alex, Blair, Corey, and Dylan each picks a card from the deck without replacement and with each card being equally likely to be picked. The two persons with lower numbered cards form a team, and the two persons with higher numbered cards form another team. Let p(a)p(a) be the probability that Alex and Dylan are on the same team, given that Alex picks one of the cards aa and a+9,a + 9, and Dylan picks the other of these two cards. The minimum value of p(a)p(a) for which p(a)12p(a) \ge \frac{1}{2} can be written as mn,\frac{m}{n}, where mm and nn are relatively prime positive integers. Find m+n.m + n.

Solution:

Condition on Alex and Dylan holding aa and a+9.a + 9. Blair and Corey then draw 22 of the remaining 5050 cards, and Alex and Dylan are teammates exactly when both of those cards are below aa (Alex and Dylan are the high team) or both are above a+9a + 9 (the low team). There are a1a - 1 cards below and 52(a+9)=43a52 - (a + 9) = 43 - a cards above, so p(a)=(a12)+(43a2)(502).p(a) = \frac{\binom{a-1}{2} + \binom{43-a}{2}}{\binom{50}{2}}.

The numerator is (a1)(a2)+(43a)(42a)2=a244a+904,\frac{(a-1)(a-2) + (43-a)(42-a)}{2} = a^2 - 44a + 904, so p(a)12p(a) \ge \frac{1}{2} becomes a244a+90425492,a^2 - 44a + 904 \ge \frac{25 \cdot 49}{2}, that is, (a22)23852.(a - 22)^2 \ge \frac{385}{2}. Since aa is an integer, a2214,|a - 22| \ge 14, so a8a \le 8 or a36.a \ge 36.

The parabola is smallest at the admissible points closest to a=22:a = 22: p(8)=p(36)=(72)+(352)(502)=6161225=88175,p(8) = p(36) = \frac{\binom{7}{2} + \binom{35}{2}}{\binom{50}{2}} = \frac{616}{1225} = \frac{88}{175}, which is indeed at least 12.\frac{1}{2}. Thus m+n=88+175=263.m + n = 88 + 175 = 263.

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