2015 AIME I Problem 12

Attempt Problem 12 of the 2015 AIME I below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2015 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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12.

Consider all 10001000-element subsets of the set {1,2,3,,2015}.\{1, 2, 3, \ldots, 2015\}. From each such subset choose the least element. The arithmetic mean of all of these least elements is pq,\frac{p}{q}, where pp and qq are relatively prime positive integers. Find p+q.p + q.

Answer: 431
Concepts:combinationsexpected valuebijection
Difficulty rating: 3270
Solution:

A 10001000-element subset has least element jj exactly when it contains jj together with 999999 larger elements, so (2015j999)\binom{2015-j}{999} of the subsets have least element j.j. The mean is therefore jj(2015j999)(20151000).\frac{\sum_{j} j\binom{2015-j}{999}}{\binom{2015}{1000}}.

The numerator counts something concrete: to build a 10011001-element subset of {0,1,,2015}\{0, 1, \ldots, 2015\} whose second-smallest element is j,j, choose its smallest element from {0,,j1}\{0, \ldots, j-1\} (jj ways) and its top 999999 elements from {j+1,,2015}.\{j+1, \ldots, 2015\}. Summing over jj produces every 10011001-element subset exactly once, so jj(2015j999)=(20161001).\sum_j j\binom{2015-j}{999} = \binom{2016}{1001}.

Hence the mean is (20161001)(20151000)=20161001=288143,\frac{\binom{2016}{1001}}{\binom{2015}{1000}} = \frac{2016}{1001} = \frac{288}{143}, which is in lowest terms, and p+q=288+143=431.p + q = 288 + 143 = 431.

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