Let be the set of all positive factors of 6000. What is the probability of a random quadruple satisfies
Solution
For each prime factor, let the greatest power that divides be . WLOG assume that and , and further WLOG assume that . Then we need . If then we have , and if then we have , and in either case the condition reduces to the two 'medians' among are equal. (It is not difficult to see that this condition is also sufficient.) Now we compute the number of quadruples of integers between 0 and inclusive that satisfy the above condition. If there are three distinct numbers then there are ways to choose the three numbers and ways to assign them (it must be a split). If there are two distinct numbers then there are ways to choose the numbers and ways to assign them (it must be a or a 1-3 split). If there is one distinct number then there are ways to assign. Together we have possible quadruples. So if we choose a random quadruple then the probability that it satisfies the condition is . Since and the power of different primes are independent, we plug in to get the overall probability to be