Browse · harp
Printsmc
counting and probability senior
Problem
A square is partitioned into unit squares. Each unit square is painted either white or black with each color being equally likely, chosen independently and at random. The square is then rotated clockwise about its center, and every white square in a position formerly occupied by a black square is painted black. The colors of all other squares are left unchanged. What is the probability the grid is now entirely black?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
First, look for invariants. The center, unaffected by rotation, must be black. So automatically, the chance is less than Note that a rotation requires that black squares be across from each other across a vertical or horizontal axis. As such, squares directly across from each other must be black in the edge squares. Since there are configurations for this to be possible (top and bottom, right and left), this is a chance of However, by PIE, subtract the chance all 4 are black and both configurations are met: . Through symmetrical reasoning, the corners also have a chance of having a configuration that yields all black corners. Then, the chance that all squares black is the intersection of all these probabilities: Also, if you have little to no time and are guessing, notice there are a total of ways to permutate the colors on the square (Each square can be white or black, so there are 2 possibilities for each of the 9 squares). Thus, the answer must be in some form of , so E is not possible. Also, since the number of good cases must be an integer, C is not possible. From there, your chances of guessing the right answer are slightly higher.
Final answer
A