2015 AMC 12B Problem 9


Larry and Julius are playing a game, taking turns throwing a ball at a bottle sitting on a ledge. Larry throws first. The winner is the first person to knock the bottle off the ledge. At each turn the probability that a player knocks the bottle off the ledge is 12\tfrac{1}{2} , independently of what has happened before. What is the probability that Larry wins the game?

(A)12(B)35(C)23(D)34(E)45\textbf{(A)}\; \dfrac{1}{2} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\; \dfrac{3}{5} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\; \dfrac{2}{3} \qquad\textbf{(D)}\; \dfrac{3}{4} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\; \dfrac{4}{5}


Full credit goes to MAA for authoring these problems. These problems were taken on the AOPS website.

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Problem Tags: Counting and probability

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Category: AMC 12B
Points: 2
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