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jmc

algebra senior

Problem

The vertices of a centrally symmetric hexagon in the complex plane are given by For each , , an element is chosen from at random, independently of the other choices. Let be the product of the numbers selected.

The probability that can be expressed in the form where are positive integers, is prime, and is not divisible by Find
Solution
The first two vertices of have magnitude , while the other four have magnitude . In order for , it must be the case that , which only happens if there are two magnitude- vertices for each magnitude- one. Define as the product of the magnitude- vertices chosen and as the product of the magnitude- vertices chosen.

There are ways to select which of the 12 draws come up with a magnitude- number. The arguments of those numbers are all , so has an argument that is a multiple of . Half of the draw sequences will produce a result with argument equivalent to and the other half will have an argument equivalent to .

Similarly, the arguments of the other four numbers are , so has argument for some integer . The ways to select four magnitude- numbers are equally likely to produce any of the four possible product arguments.

In order for , the argument of the product must be . That happens only if: (a) has argument and has argument , which happens with probability . (b) has argument and has argument , which also happens with probability . Putting these cases together, we find that of the sequences of eight magnitude- and four magnitude- vertices will have the correct argument for .

The probability that is The final answer is
Final answer
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