2020 AMC 10B Problem 11
Problem 11 of 25IntermediateCounting & Probability
Ms. Carr asks her students to read any of the books on a reading list. Harold randomly selects books from this list, and Betty does the same. What is the probability that there are exactly books that they both select?
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Solution
Assume that Harold has already picked his books. Of these five books, there are ways that Betty can have picked exactly two of the same books as Harold, and ways that Betty can choose her other three books from the books not on Harold’s list.
Thus there are favorable choices for Betty out of equally likely choices. The probability is Thus, D is the correct answer.