A gambler has $\$25$ and each turn, if the gambler has a positive amount of money, a fair coin is flipped. If it is heads, the gambler gains a dollar and if it is tails, the gambler loses a dollar. But, if the gambler has no money, he will automatically be given a dollar (which counts as a turn). What is the expected number of turns for the gambler to double his money?

On a blackboard lies $50$ magnets in a line numbered from $1$ to $50$, with different magnets containing different numbers. David walks up to the blackboard and rearranges the magnets into some arbitrary order. He then writes underneath each pair of consecutive magnets the positive difference between the numbers on the magnets. If the expected number of times he writes the number $1$ can be written in the form $\tfrac mn$ for relatively prime positive integers $m$ and $n$, compute $100m+n$. [i] Proposed by David Altizio [/i]

assume that we have a n*n table we fill it with 1,...,n such that each number exists exactly n times prove that there exist a row or column such that at least $\sqrt{n}$ diffrent number are contained.

Let $ S$ be a finite set of points in the plane such that no three of them are on a line. For each convex polygon $ P$ whose vertices are in $ S$, let $ a(P)$ be the number of vertices of $ P$, and let $ b(P)$ be the number of points of $ S$ which are outside $ P$. A line segment, a point, and the empty set are considered as convex polygons of $ 2$, $ 1$, and $ 0$ vertices respectively. Prove that for every real number $ x$ \[\sum_{P}{x^{a(P)}(1 \minus{} x)^{b(P)}} \equal{} 1,\] where the sum is taken over all convex polygons with vertices in $ S$. [i]Alternative formulation[/i]: Let $ M$ be a finite point set in the plane and no three points are collinear. A subset $ A$ of $ M$ will be called round if its elements is the set of vertices of a convex $ A \minus{}$gon $ V(A).$ For each round subset let $ r(A)$ be the number of points from $ M$ which are exterior from the convex $ A \minus{}$gon $ V(A).$ Subsets with $ 0,1$ and 2 elements are always round, its corresponding polygons are the empty set, a point or a segment, respectively (for which all other points that are not vertices of the polygon are exterior). For each round subset $ A$ of $ M$ construct the polynomial \[ P_A(x) \equal{} x^{|A|}(1 \minus{} x)^{r(A)}. \] Show that the sum of polynomials for all round subsets is exactly the polynomial $ P(x) \equal{} 1.$ [i]Proposed by Federico Ardila, Colombia[/i]

Shuffle a deck of $71$ playing cards which contains $6$ aces. Then turn up cards from the top until you see an ace. What is the average number of cards required to be turned up to find the first ace?

You are tossing an unbiased coin. The last $ 28 $ consecutive flips have all resulted in heads. Let $ x $ be the expected number of additional tosses you must make before you get $ 60 $ consecutive heads. Find the sum of all distinct prime factors in $ x $.

Andrew starts with the $2018$-tuple of binary digits $(0,0,\dots,0)$. On each turn, he randomly chooses one index (between $1$ and $2018$) and flips the digit at that index (makes it $1$ if it was a $0$ and vice versa). What is the smallest $k$ such that, after $k$ steps, the expected number of ones in the sequence is greater than $1008?$ You must give your answer as a nonnegative integer. If your answer is $A$ and the correct answer is $C$, then your score will be $\max\{\lfloor18.5-\tfrac{|A-C|^{1.8}}{40}\rfloor,0\}.$

For a permutation $\pi$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$, let $\text{Inv}(\pi)$ be the number of pairs $(i,j)$ with $1 \leq i < j \leq n$ and $\pi(i) > \pi(j)$. [list=1] [*] Given $n$, what is $\sum \text{Inv}(\pi)$ where the sum ranges over all permutations $\pi$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$? [*] Given $n$, what is $\sum \left(\text{Inv}(\pi)\right)^2$ where the sum ranges over all permutations $\pi$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$?[/list] [i]Brian Hamrick.[/i]

$20$ players are playing in a Super Mario Smash Bros. Melee tournament. They are ranked $1-20$, and player $n$ will always beat player $m$ if $n<m$. Out of all possible tournaments where each player plays $18$ distinct other players exactly once, one is chosen uniformly at random. Find the expected number of pairs of players that win the same number of games.

There are 94 safes and 94 keys. Each key can open only one safe, and each safe can be opened by only one key. We place randomly one key into each safe. 92 safes are then randomly chosen, and then locked. What is the probability that we can open all the safes with the two keys in the two remaining safes? (Once a safe is opened, the key inside the safe can be used to open another safe.)

Let $a_1,a_2,...,a_9$ be nine real numbers, not necessarily distinct, with average $m$. Let $A$ denote the number of triples $1 \le i < j < k \le 9$ for which $a_i + a_j + a_k \ge 3m$. What is the minimum possible value of $A$? [i]Proposed by Ray Li[/i]

Ranu starts with one standard die on a table. At each step, she rolls all the dice on the table: if all of them show a 6 on top, then she places one more die on the table; otherwise, she does nothing more on this step. After 2013 such steps, let $D$ be the number of dice on the table. What is the expected value (average value) of $6^D$?

An $m\times n$ checkerboard is colored randomly: each square is independently assigned red or black with probability $\frac12.$ we say that two squares, $p$ and $q$, are in the same connected monochromatic region if there is a sequence of squares, all of the same color, starting at $p$ and ending at $q,$ in which successive squares in the sequence share a common side. Show that the expected number of connected monochromatic regions is greater than $\frac{mn}8.$

Let $X$ be a set with $n$ elements, and let $A_{1}$, $A_{2}$, ..., $A_{m}$ be subsets of $X$ such that: 1) $|A_{i}|=3$ for every $i\in\left\{1,2,...,m\right\}$; 2) $|A_{i}\cap A_{j}|\leq 1$ for all $i,j\in\left\{1,2,...,m\right\}$ such that $i \neq j$. Prove that there exists a subset $A$ of $X$ such that $A$ has at least $\left[\sqrt{2n}\right]$ elements, and for every $i\in\left\{1,2,...,m\right\}$, the set $A$ does not contain $A_{i}$. [i]Alternative formulation.[/i] Let $X$ be a finite set with $n$ elements and $A_{1},A_{2},\ldots, A_{m}$ be three-elements subsets of $X$, such that $|A_{i}\cap A_{j}|\leq 1$, for every $i\neq j$. Prove that there exists $A\subseteq X$ with $|A|\geq \lfloor \sqrt{2n}\rfloor$, such that none of $A_{i}$'s is a subset of $A$.

Done working on his sand castle design, Joshua sits down and starts rolling a $12$-sided die he found when cleaning the storage shed. He rolls and rolls and rolls, and after $17$ rolls he finally rolls a $1$. Just $3$ rolls later he rolls the first $2\textit{ after}$ that first roll of $1$. $11$ rolls later, Joshua rolls the first $3\textit{ after}$ the first $2$ that he rolled $\textit{after}$ the first $1$ that he rolled. His first $31$ rolls make the sequence \[4,3,11,3,11,8,5,2,12,9,5,7,11,3,6,10,\textbf{1},8,3,\textbf{2},10,4,2,8,1,9,7,12,11,4,\textbf{3}.\] Joshua wonders how many times he should expect to roll the $12$-sided die so that he can remove all but $12$ of the numbers from the entire sequence of rolls and (without changing the order of the sequence), be left with the sequence \[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12.\] What is the expected value of the number of times Joshua must roll the die before he has such a sequence? (Assume Joshua starts from the beginning - do $\textit{not}$ assume he starts by rolling the specific sequence of $31$ rolls above.)

Joe has $1729$ randomly oriented and randomly arranged unit cubes, which are initially unpainted. He makes two cubes of sidelengths $9$ and $10$ or of sidelengths $1$ and $12$ (randomly chosen). These cubes are dipped into white paint. Then two more cubes of sidelengths $1$ and $12$ or $9$ and $10$ are formed from the same unit cubes, again randomly oriented and randomly arranged, and dipped into paint. Joe continues this process until every side of every unit cube is painted. After how many times of doing this is the expected number of painted faces closest to half of the total?

Let $(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n)$ be a point chosen at random in the $n$-dimensional region defined by $0<x_1<x_2<\ldots<x_n<1$, denoting $x_0=0$ and $x_{n+1}=1$. Let $f$ be a continuous function on $[0,1]$ with $f(1)=0$. Show that the expected value of the sum $$\sum_{i=0}^n(x_{i+1}-x_i)f(x_{i+1})$$is $\int^1_0f(t)P(t)dt$., where $P$ is a polynomial of degree $n$, independent of $f$, with $0\le P(t)\le1$ for $0\le t\le1$.

One day Jason finishes his math homework early, and decides to take a jog through his neighborhood. While jogging, Jason trips over a leprechaun. After dusting himself off and apologizing to the odd little magical creature, Jason, thinking there is nothing unusual about the situation, starts jogging again. Immediately the leprechaun calls out, "hey, stupid, this is your only chance to win gold from a leprechaun!" Jason, while not particularly greedy, recognizes the value of gold. Thinking about his limited college savings, Jason approaches the leprechaun and asks about the opportunity. The leprechaun hands Jason a fair coin and tells him to flip it as many times as it takes to flip a head. For each tail Jason flips, the leprechaun promises one gold coin. If Jason flips a head right away, he wins nothing. If he first flips a tail, then a head, he wins one gold coin. If he's lucky and flips ten tails before the first head, he wins $\textit{ten gold coins.}$ What is the expected number of gold coins Jason wins at this game? $\textbf{(A) }0\hspace{14em}\textbf{(B) }\dfrac1{10}\hspace{13.5em}\textbf{(C) }\dfrac18$ $\textbf{(D) }\dfrac15\hspace{13.8em}\textbf{(E) }\dfrac14\hspace{14em}\textbf{(F) }\dfrac13$ $\textbf{(G) }\dfrac25\hspace{13.7em}\textbf{(H) }\dfrac12\hspace{14em}\textbf{(I) }\dfrac35$ $\textbf{(J) }\dfrac23\hspace{14em}\textbf{(K) }\dfrac45\hspace{14em}\textbf{(L) }1$ $\textbf{(M) }\dfrac54\hspace{13.5em}\textbf{(N) }\dfrac43\hspace{14em}\textbf{(O) }\dfrac32$ $\textbf{(P) }2\hspace{14.1em}\textbf{(Q) }3\hspace{14.2em}\textbf{(R) }4$ $\textbf{(S) }2007$

Tom has a scientific calculator. Unfortunately, all keys are broken except for one row: 1, 2, 3, + and -. Tom presses a sequence of $5$ random keystrokes; at each stroke, each key is equally likely to be pressed. The calculator then evaluates the entire expression, yielding a result of $E$. Find the expected value of $E$. (Note: Negative numbers are permitted, so 13-22 gives $E = -9$. Any excess operators are parsed as signs, so -2-+3 gives $E=-5$ and -+-31 gives $E = 31$. Trailing operators are discarded, so 2++-+ gives $E=2$. A string consisting only of operators, such as -++-+, gives $E=0$.) [i]Proposed by Lewis Chen[/i]

George has six ropes. He chooses two of the twelve loose ends at random (possibly from the same rope), and ties them together, leaving ten loose ends. He again chooses two loose ends at random and joins them, and so on, until there are no loose ends. Find, with proof, the expected value of the number of loops George ends up with.

Katie begins juggling five balls. After every second elapses, there is a chance she will drop a ball. If she is currently juggling $ k$ balls, this probability is $ \frac{k}{10}$. Find the expected number of seconds until she has dropped all the balls.

A tennis tournament has $n>2$ players and any two players play one game against each other (ties are not allowed). After the game these players can be arranged in a circle, such that for any three players $A,B,C$, if $A,B$ are adjacent on the circle, then at least one of $A,B$ won against $C$. Find all possible values for $n$.

Bob, having little else to do, rolls a fair $6$-sided die until the sum of his rolls is greater than or equal to $700$. What is the expected number of rolls needed? Any answer within $.0001$ of the correct answer will be accepted.

An equilateral triangle is tiled with $n^2$ smaller congruent equilateral triangles such that there are $n$ smaller triangles along each of the sides of the original triangle. For each of the small equilateral triangles, we randomly choose a vertex $V$ of the triangle and draw an arc with that vertex as center connecting the midpoints of the two sides of the small triangle with $V$ as an endpoint. Find, with proof, the expected value of the number of full circles formed, in terms of $n.$ [img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/classroom.artofproblemsolving.com/Images/Transcripts/497b4e1ef5043a84b433a5c52c4be3ae.png[/img]

Sherry starts at the number 1. Whenever she's at 1, she moves one step up (to 2). Whenever she's at a number strictly between 1 and 10, she moves one step up or one step down, each with probability $\frac{1}{2}$. When she reaches 10, she stops. What is the expected number (average number) of steps that Sherry will take?