BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Probability - number of Paths

Expert replies
by ronnie1985 » Wed May 23, 2012 8:27 am
Alicia lives in a town whose streets are on a grid system, with all streets running east-west or north-south without breaks. Her school located on a corner, lies three blocks south and three blocks east of his home, also located on a corner. If Alicia is equally likely to choose any possible path from home to school, and if she only walks south or east, what is the probability that she will walk south for the first two blocks?

I seek the approach
Follow your passion, Success as perceived by others shall follow you
Join the discussion
Source: — Problem Solving |

by GMATGuruNY » Wed May 23, 2012 12:05 pm
ronnie1985 wrote:Alicia lives in a town whose streets are on a grid system, with all streets running east-west or north-south without breaks. Her school located on a corner, lies three blocks south and three blocks east of his home, also located on a corner. If Alicia is equally likely to choose any possible path from home to school, and if she only walks south or east, what is the probability that she will walk south for the first two blocks?

I seek the approach
Alicia's trip involves 3 movements south (SSS) and 3 movements east (EEE). We want to know the probability that her first 2 movements are SS. This question is no different from the following:

A bag contains three marbles labeled S and three marbles labeled E. If two marbles are randomly selected from the bag, what is the probability that both are labeled S?

P(SS) = 3/6 * 2/5 = 1/5.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
Join the discussion

by Anurag@Gurome » Wed May 23, 2012 10:08 pm
ronnie1985 wrote:Alicia lives in a town whose streets are on a grid system, with all streets running east-west or north-south without breaks. Her school located on a corner, lies three blocks south and three blocks east of his home, also located on a corner. If Alicia is equally likely to choose any possible path from home to school, and if she only walks south or east, what is the probability that she will walk south for the first two blocks?

I seek the approach
To reach the school, Alicia should walk 3 times south and 3 times east: SSSEEE
Total number of routes to the school = 6!/(3!3!) = 20 (Number of permutations of 6 letters out of which 3 S's and 3 E's are identical)
Now, we wan to count all the routes which start with {SS}. So, {SS} is fixed and then there can be any combination of the rest 4 letters SEEE.
So, all possible routes, which start with {SS} = 4!/3!=4 (number of permutations of 4 letters out of which 3 E's).

So, required probability = 4/20 = [spoiler]1/5[/spoiler].
Anurag Mairal, Ph.D., MBA
GMAT Expert, Admissions and Career Guidance
Gurome, Inc.
1-800-566-4043 (USA)

Join Our Facebook Groups
GMAT with Gurome
https://www.facebook.com/groups/272466352793633/
Admissions with Gurome
https://www.facebook.com/groups/461459690536574/
Career Advising with Gurome
https://www.facebook.com/groups/360435787349781/
Join the discussion