Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MATH

Print

jmc

number theory senior

Problem

Ten identical crates each of dimensions . The first crate is placed flat on the floor. Each of the remaining nine crates is placed, in turn, flat on top of the previous crate, and the orientation of each crate is chosen at random. Let be the probability that the stack of crates is exactly tall, where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find .
Solution
Only the heights matter, and each crate is either 3, 4, or 6 feet tall with equal probability. We have the following: Subtracting 3 times the second from the first gives , or . The last doesn't work, obviously. This gives the three solutions . In terms of choosing which goes where, the first two solutions are analogous. For , we see that there are ways to stack the crates. For , there are . Also, there are total ways to stack the crates to any height. Thus, our probability is . Our answer is the numerator, .
Final answer
190