2018 AMC 10A Problem 11

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 11 of the 2018 AMC 10A, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2018 AMC 10A solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:dice (probability)stars and bars

Difficulty rating: 1420

11.

When 77 fair standard 66-sided dice are thrown, the probability that the sum of the numbers on the top faces is 1010 can be written as n67,\dfrac{n}{6^{7}}, where nn is a positive integer. What is n?n?

4242

4949

5656

6363

8484

Solution:

We can use stars and bars to find n.n. It is the same as finding the number of ways to put 1010 balls into 77 boxes, where each box has at least one ball.

The formula for such a scenario is (n1k1), \binom{n - 1}{k - 1}, where nn is the number of balls and kk is the number of boxes.

The desired answer is therefore (96)=(93)=84. \binom{9}{6} = \binom{9}{3} = 84.

Thus, E is the correct answer.

Problem 11 in Other Years