probability

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:29 am
Thanked: 17 times
Followed by:1 members

probability

by rahul.s » Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:55 am
molly is playing a game that requires her to roll a fair die repeatedly until she first rolls a 1, at which point she must stop rolling the die. what is the probability that molly will roll the die less than four times before stopping?

[spoiler]OA: 91/216[/spoiler]
Source: — Problem Solving |

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1022
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:49 pm
Location: Gandhinagar
Thanked: 41 times
Followed by:2 members

by shashank.ism » Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:16 am
rahul.s wrote:molly is playing a game that requires her to roll a fair die repeatedly until she first rolls a 1, at which point she must stop rolling the die. what is the probability that molly will roll the die less than four times before stopping?

[spoiler]OA: 91/216[/spoiler]
S= 6^3 =216
E = 1C1+5C1*6C1+5C1*5C1*1C1= 1+5+25
P = 31/216[spoiler]31/216[/spoiler]
My Websites:
www.mba.webmaggu.com - India's social Network for MBA Aspirants

www.deal.webmaggu.com -India's online discount, coupon, free stuff informer.

www.dictionary.webmaggu.com - A compact free online dictionary with images.

Nothing is Impossible, even Impossible says I'm possible.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1132
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:38 am
Location: India
Thanked: 64 times
Followed by:6 members
GMAT Score:760

by harsh.champ » Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:20 am
shashank.ism wrote:
rahul.s wrote:molly is playing a game that requires her to roll a fair die repeatedly until she first rolls a 1, at which point she must stop rolling the die. what is the probability that molly will roll the die less than four times before stopping?

[spoiler]OA: 91/216[/spoiler]
S= 6^3 =216
E = 1C1+5C1*6C1+5C1*5C1*1C1= 1+5+25
P = 31/216[spoiler]31/216[/spoiler]
Now,molly will roll the die less than 4 times if she gets 1 on the 1st,2nd or the 3rd time .

P = 1/6 + (5/6 x 1/6) + (5/6 x 5/6 x 1/6)
=[spoiler] (36 + 30 + 25)/216 =91/216[/spoiler]

Hey Shashank,
I think you forgot to multiply the 1st and 2nd term with 36 and 6 respectively.

Just check with your problem approach.
It takes time and effort to explain, so if my comment helped you please press Thanks button :)



Just because something is hard doesn't mean you shouldn't try,it means you should just try harder.

"Keep Walking" - Johnny Walker :P