Pairing numbered gloves within one of each other
Question
Ten gloves carry numbers, with two gloves labelled each of . The gloves are split into pairs uniformly at random. What is the probability that in every pair the two numbers differ by no more than ?
Short answer
. There are pairings. For the good ones, one glove labelled is paired either with its twin (leaving labels) or with one of the two gloves labelled , which forces the other pair, so . From this gives and probability .
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Counting and Combinatorics
- Sample Spaces, Events, and the Probability Axioms
- Conditional Probability, Total Probability, and Bayes' Rule
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