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Two numbers landing in different random groups

Question

The numbers 1,2,…,1001,2,\dots,100 are randomly split into one group of 3030 and one group of 7070, with every such split equally likely. What is the probability that 66 and 6666 end up in different groups?

Short answer

14/3314/33. Place 66 first: it is in the small group with probability 30100\tfrac{30}{100}, and then 6666 must be among the 7070 of the other 9999 slots in the large group; symmetrically for the other case. So 30100⋅7099+70100⋅3099=1433\tfrac{30}{100}\cdot\tfrac{70}{99}+\tfrac{70}{100}\cdot\tfrac{30}{99}=\tfrac{14}{33}.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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