2001 AMC 10 Problem 23

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 23 of the 2001 AMC 10, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2001 AMC 10 solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:sampling without replacement basic probability symmetry

Difficulty rating: 1690

23.

A box contains exactly five chips, three red and two white. Chips are randomly removed one at a time without replacement until all the red chips are drawn or all the white chips are drawn. What is the probability that the last chip drawn is white?

$\dfrac{3}{10}$

$\dfrac25$

$\dfrac12$

$\dfrac35$

$\dfrac{7}{10}$

Solution:

Imagine drawing all five chips in a random order. The drawing stops on a white chip exactly when both white chips come out before all three reds, which happens precisely when the very last chip in the full ordering is red.

That probability is $\dfrac{3}{5}.$ Thus, the correct answer is D.

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