2015 AIME II Problem 2

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 2 of the 2015 AIME II, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2015 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:conditional probabilitypercentage

Difficulty rating: 1750

2.

In a new school 4040 percent of the students are freshmen, 3030 percent are sophomores, 2020 percent are juniors, and 1010 percent are seniors. All freshmen are required to take Latin, and 8080 percent of the sophomores, 5050 percent of the juniors, and 2020 percent of the seniors elect to take Latin. The probability that a randomly chosen Latin student is a sophomore is mn,\frac{m}{n}, where mm and nn are relatively prime positive integers. Find m+n.m + n.

Solution:

Assume the school has 100100 students. The Latin students are then 4040 freshmen, 30(0.8)=2430(0.8) = 24 sophomores, 20(0.5)=1020(0.5) = 10 juniors, and 10(0.2)=210(0.2) = 2 seniors, for a total of 76.76.

The probability that a random Latin student is a sophomore is 2476=619,\frac{24}{76} = \frac{6}{19}, so m+n=6+19=25.m + n = 6 + 19 = 25.

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