2020 AMC 12A Problem 23

Attempt Problem 23 of the 2020 AMC 12A 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 2020 AMC 12A solutions, or check the answer key.

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23.

Jason rolls three fair standard six-sided dice. Then he looks at the rolls and chooses a subset of the dice (possibly empty, possibly all three dice) to reroll. After rerolling, he wins if and only if the sum of the numbers face up on the three dice is exactly 7.7. Jason always plays to optimize his chances of winning. What is the probability that he chooses to reroll exactly two of the dice?

736\dfrac{7}{36}

524\dfrac{5}{24}

29\dfrac{2}{9}

1772\dfrac{17}{72}

14\dfrac{1}{4}

Answer: A
Concepts:dice (probability)optimizationcasework
Difficulty rating: 2270
Small Hint:

Compare the win chance from rerolling one die (keep two summing to at most 66) with rerolling two (keep one small die)

Big Hint:

Rerolling exactly two is best when no two dice sum to 66 or less, yet the smallest die is small enough to beat rerolling all three

Solution:

Rerolling one die, keeping two dice that sum to s,s, wins with probability 16\tfrac16 when s6s \le 6 and 00 otherwise. Rerolling two dice, keeping a die of value v,v, wins with probability equal to the number of ways two dice sum to 7v,7 - v, over 36;36; this is largest when vv is smallest. For v=1,2,3,v=1,2,3, these probabilities are 536,436,336,\tfrac5{36},\tfrac4{36},\tfrac3{36}, all greater than the reroll-all probability 15216=572;\tfrac{15}{216}=\tfrac{5}{72}; for v4,v\ge4, rerolling all is better.

Rerolling exactly two dice is strictly best precisely when the two smallest dice sum to at least 77 (so rerolling one cannot reach 77) while the smallest die is 1,2,1, 2, or 33 (so keeping it beats rerolling all three).

Sort the roll as uvw.u\le v\le w. If u=1,u=1, the only possibility is (1,6,6),(1,6,6), with 33 orderings. If u=2,u=2, the possibilities (2,5,5),(2,5,6),(2,6,6)(2,5,5),(2,5,6),(2,6,6) have 3+6+3=123+6+3=12 orderings. If u=3,u=3, choose v,wv,w with repetition from {4,5,6};\{4,5,6\}; the six resulting triples have 3+6+6+3+6+3=273+6+6+3+6+3=27 orderings. Thus there are 3+12+27=423+12+27=42 qualifying ordered rolls out of 216,216, a probability of 42216=736.\dfrac{42}{216} = \dfrac{7}{36}.

Thus, A is the correct answer.

Problem 22#22
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