Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

The positive integer ii is chosen at random such that the probability of a positive integer kk being chosen is 32\frac{3}{2} times the probability of k+1k+1 being chosen. What is the probability that the ithi^{\text{th}} digit after the decimal point of the decimal expansion of 17\frac{1}{7} is a 2?

Solution

Solution:

Answer: 108665\frac{108}{665}

First we note that the probability that nn is picked is 12×(23)n\frac{1}{2} \times \left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{n}, because this is the sequence whose terms decrease by a factor of 23\frac{2}{3} each time and whose sum is 1 (recall that probabilities must sum to 1).

Now note that 17=.142857142857\frac{1}{7} = .142857142857\ldots, meaning that 2 occurs at digits 3,9,15,213, 9, 15, 21, etc. We can then calculate the probability that we ever pick 2 as
k=012(23)6k+3=427k=0(23)6k=42711(23)6=42772972964=427729665=108665 \begin{aligned} \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{1}{2} \cdot \left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{6k+3} &= \frac{4}{27} \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{6k} \\ &= \frac{4}{27} \cdot \frac{1}{1-\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^6} \\ &= \frac{4}{27} \cdot \frac{729}{729-64} \\ &= \frac{4}{27} \cdot \frac{729}{665} \\ &= \frac{108}{665} \end{aligned}

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.