Nine balls numbered $1,2,\cdots,9$ are put on nine poines that divide the circle into nine equal parts. The sum of absolute values of the difference between the number of two adjacent balls is $S$. Find the probablity of $S$ takes its minumum value. Note: If one way of putting balls can be the same as another one by rotating or specular-reflecting, then they are considered the same way.

Urn A contains 4 white balls and 2 red balls. Urn B contains 3 red balls and 3 black balls. An urn is randomly selected, and then a ball inside of that urn is removed. We then repeat the process of selecting an urn and drawing out a ball, without returning the first ball. What is the probability that the first ball drawn was red, given that the second ball drawn was black?

Bob and Alice each have a bag that contains one ball of each of the colors blue, green, orange, red, and violet. Alice randomly selects one ball from her bag and puts it into Bob's bag. Bob then randomly selects one ball from his bag and puts it into Alice's bag. What is the probability that after this process, the contents of the two bags are the same? $ \textbf{(A) } \frac 1{10} \qquad \textbf{(B) } \frac 16 \qquad \textbf{(C) } \frac 15 \qquad \textbf{(D) } \frac 13 \qquad \textbf{(E) } \frac 12$

A drunken person walks randomly on a tree. Each time, he chooses uniformly at random a neighbouring node and walks there. Show that wherever his starting point and goal are, the expected number of steps the person takes to reach the goal is always an integer. [i]houkai[/i]

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?

Select numbers $ a$ and $ b$ between $ 0$ and $ 1$ independently and at random, and let $ c$ be their sum. Let $ A, B$ and $ C$ be the results when $ a, b$ and $ c$, respectively, are rounded to the nearest integer. What is the probability that $ A \plus{} B \equal{} C$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac14 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ \frac13 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ \frac12 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac23 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \frac34$

Justin is being served two different types of chips, A-chips, and B-chips. If there are $3$ B-chips and $5$ A-chips, and if Justin randomly grabs $3$ chips, what is the probability that none of them are A-chips?

John is flipping his favorite bottle, which currently contains $10$ ounces of water. However, his bottle is broken from excessive flipping, so after he performs a flip, one ounce of water leaks out of his bottle. When his bottle contains k ounces of water, he has a $\frac{1}{k+1}$ probability of landing it on its bottom. What is the expected number of number of flips it takes for John’s bottle to land on its bottom ?

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]

Suppose Alan, Michael, Kevin, Igor, and Big Rahul are in a running race. It is given that exactly one pair of people tie (for example, two people both get second place), so that no other pair of people end in the same position. Each competitor has equal skill; this means that each outcome of the race, given that exactly two people tie, is equally likely. The probability that Big Rahul gets first place (either by himself or he ties for first) can be expressed in the form $\tfrac{m}{n}$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Compute $m+n$.

A standard six-sided fair die is rolled four times. The probability that the product of all four numbers rolled is a perfect square is $\tfrac{m}{n}$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m+n$.

An unfair coin has probability $p$ of coming up heads on a single toss. Let $w$ be the probability that, in $5$ independent toss of this coin, heads come up exactly $3$ times. If $w = 144 / 625$, then $ \textbf{(A)}\ p\text{ must be }2/5$ $ \textbf{(B)}\ p\text{ must be }3/5$ $ \textbf{(C)}\ p\text{ must be greater than }3/5$ $ \textbf{(D)}\ p\text{ is not uniquely determined}$ $ \textbf{(E)}\ \text{there is no value of }p\text{ for which }w = 144/625$

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.

Beyond the Point of No Return is a large lake containing 2013 islands arranged at the vertices of a regular $2013$-gon. Adjacent islands are joined with exactly two bridges. Christine starts on one of the islands with the intention of burning all the bridges. Each minute, if the island she is on has at least one bridge still joined to it, she randomly selects one such bridge, crosses it, and immediately burns it. Otherwise, she stops. If the probability Christine burns all the bridges before she stops can be written as $\frac{m}{n}$ for relatively prime positive integers $m$ and $n$, find the remainder when $m+n$ is divided by $1000$. [i]Evan Chen[/i]

Abby, Bridget, and four of their classmates will be seated in two rows of three for a group picture, as shown. \begin{eqnarray*} \text{X}&\quad\text{X}\quad&\text{X} \\ \text{X}&\quad\text{X}\quad&\text{X} \end{eqnarray*} If the seating positions are assigned randomly, what is the probability that Abby and Bridget are adjacent to each other in the same row or the same column? $\textbf{(A) } \frac{1}{3} \qquad \textbf{(B) } \frac{2}{5} \qquad \textbf{(C) } \frac{7}{15} \qquad \textbf{(D) } \frac{1}{2} \qquad \textbf{(E) } \frac{2}{3}$

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?

Professor Gamble buys a lottery ticket, which requires that he pick six different integers from $ 1$ through $ 46$, inclusive. He chooses his numbers so that the sum of the base-ten logarithms of his six numbers is an integer. It so happens that the integers on the winning ticket have the same property--- the sum of the base-ten logarithms is an integer. What is the probability that Professor Gamble holds the winning ticket? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 1/5 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 1/4 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 1/3 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 1/2 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 1$

Janet rolls a standard 6-sided die 4 times and keeps a running total of the numbers she rolls. What is the probability that at some point, her running total will equal 3? $\textbf{(A) }\frac{2}{9}\qquad\textbf{(B) }\frac{49}{216}\qquad\textbf{(C) }\frac{25}{108}\qquad\textbf{(D) }\frac{17}{72}\qquad\textbf{(E) }\frac{13}{54}$

In a $4\times 4$ grid of unit squares, five squares are chosen at random. The probability that no two chosen squares share a side is $\tfrac mn$ for positive relatively prime integers $m$ and $n$. Find $m+n$. [i]Proposed by David Altizio[/i]

Let $\xi_{(k_1, k_2)}, k_1, k_2 \in\mathbb N$ be random variables uniformly bounded. Let $c_l, l\in\mathbb N$ be a positive real strictly increasing infinite sequence such that $c_{l+1}/ c_l$ is bounded. Let $d_l=\log \left(c_{l+1}/c_l\right), l\in\mathbb N$ and suppose that $D_n=\sum_{l=1}^n d_l\uparrow \infty$ when $n\to\infty$ Suppose there exist $C>0$ and $\varepsilon>0$ such that $$\left| \mathbb E \left\{ \xi_{(k_1,k_2)}\xi_{(l_1,l_2)}\right\}\right| \leq C\prod_{i=1}^2 \left\{ \log_+\log_+\left( \frac{c_{\max\{ k_i, l_i\}}}{c_{\min\{ k_i, l_i\}}}\right)\right\}^{-(1+\varepsilon)}$$ for each $(k_1, k_2), (l_1,l_2)\in\mathbb N^2$ ($\log_+$ is the positive part of the natural logarithm). Show that $$\lim_{\substack{n_1\to\infty \\ n_2\to\infty}} \frac{1}{D_{n_1}D_{n_2}}\sum_{k_1=1}^{n_1} \sum_{k_2=1}^{n_2} d_{k_1}d_{k_2}\xi_{(k_1,k_2)}=0$$ almost surely. (translated by j___d)

An exam at a university consists of one question randomly selected from the$ n$ possible questions. A student knows only one question, but he can take the exam $n$ times. Express as a function of $n$ the probability $p_n$ that the student will pass the exam. Does $p_n$ increase or decrease as $n$ increases? Compute $lim_{n\to \infty}p_n$. What is the largest lower bound of the probabilities $p_n$?

Let $c$ be the probability that the cards are neither from the same suit or the same rank. Compute $\lfloor 1000c\rfloor$.

Hour part of a defective digital watch displays only the numbers from $1$ to $12$. After one minute from $ n: 59$, although it must display $ \left(n \plus{} 1\right): 00$, it displays $ 2n: 00$ (Think in $ mod\, 12$). For example, after $ 7: 59$, it displays $ 2: 00$ instead of $ 8: 00$. If we set the watch to an arbitrary time, what is the probability that hour part displays $4$ after exactly one day? $\textbf{(A)}\ \frac {1}{12} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac {1}{4} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \frac {1}{3} \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac {1}{2} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{None}$

We say that we extend a finite sequence of positive integers $(a_1,\dotsc,a_n)$ if we replace it by \[(1,2,\dotsc,a_1-1,a_1,1,2,\dotsc,a_2-1,a_2,1,2,\dotsc,a_3-1,a_3,\dotsc,1,2,\dotsc,a_n-1,a_n)\] i.e., each element $k$ of the original sequence is replaced by $1,2,\dotsc,k$. Géza takes the sequence $(1,2,\dotsc,9)$ and he extends it $2017$ times. Then he chooses randomly one element of the resulting sequence. What is the probability that the chosen element is $1$?