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logic cracks the quants...

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by Night reader » Thu Dec 02, 2010 3:25 pm
Nora will enter a ticket lottery every day until she wins the lottery, after which she will no longer enter. If the probability that she wins the ticket lottery is 0.1 (1/10) on each of the Â…rest three days, what is the probability that she wins on the third day?

(A) 0.001
(B) 0.009
(C) 0.081
(D) 0.729
(E) 0.900

this problem was rated as the challenge in Gmat Hacks, though it doesn't appear difficult
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by jaymw » Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:21 pm
Let's use some logic to solve this.

She only gets to the third day if she didn't win on the first 2 days. We can therefore multiply the probabilities of not winning for the first two days (0.9 x 0.9 = 0.81)

On the third day, she has to win to fulfill the mentioned requirement. Therefore we have to multiply 0.81 with the probability of winning (0.81 x 0.1 = 0.081).

Thus, the answer is C.
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by Rahul@gurome » Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:23 pm
If Nora is winning on the third day, it means she is losing on the first two days.
Probability of winning each day is 0.1.
Probability of losing each day is 1-0.1 = 0.9.
So the probability of Nora winning on the third day is 0.9*0.9*0.1 = 0.081.
The correct answer is (C).
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by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Tue Dec 12, 2017 9:39 am
Night reader wrote:Nora will enter a ticket lottery every day until she wins the lottery, after which she will no longer enter. If the probability that she wins the ticket lottery is 0.1 (1/10) on each of the Â…rest three days, what is the probability that she wins on the third day?

(A) 0.001
(B) 0.009
(C) 0.081
(D) 0.729
(E) 0.900
We are given that Nora's probability of winning the lottery on each of the first 3 days is 0.1; thus, the probability of her not winning on any day is 1 - 0.1 = 0.9. We must determine the probability of her winning on day 3, which means she does not win on day 1 or on day 2.

P(winning on day 3) = 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.1 = 0.081.

Answer: C

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