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## Competency in Focus: probability

This problem is from American Mathematics Contest 10B (AMC 10B, 2019). It is Question no. 17 of the AMC 10B 2019 Problem series.

## Next understand the problem

A red ball and a green ball are randomly and independently tossed into bins numbered with the positive integers so that for each ball, the probability that it is tossed into bin $k$ is $2^{-k}$ for $k = 1,2,3….$ What is the probability that the red ball is tossed into a higher-numbered bin than the green ball?
$\textbf{(A) } \frac{1}{4} \qquad\textbf{(B) } \frac{2}{7} \qquad\textbf{(C) } \frac{1}{3} \qquad\textbf{(D) } \frac{3}{8} \qquad\textbf{(E) } \frac{3}{7}$
##### Source of the problem
American Mathematical Contest 2019, AMC 10B Problem 17

### Probability

4/10
##### Suggested Book
Challenges and Thrills in Pre College Mathematics Excursion Of Mathematics

## Start with hints

Do you really need a hint? Try it first!
The probability that the two balls will go into adjacent bins is $\frac{1}{2\times4} + \frac{1}{4\times8} + \frac{1}{8 \times 16} + … = \frac{1}{8} + \frac{1}{32} + \frac{1}{128} + \cdots = \frac{1}{6}$ by the geometric series sum formula.
the probability that the two balls will go into bins that have a distance of $2$ from each other is $\frac{1}{2 \times 8} + \frac{1}{4 \times 16} + \frac{1}{8 \times 32} + \cdots = \frac{1}{16} + \frac{1}{64} + \frac{1}{256} + \cdots = \frac{1}{12}$
We can see that each time we add a bin between the two balls, the probability halves.
Thus, our answer is $\frac{1}{6} + \frac{1}{12} + \frac{1}{24} + \cdots$

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