u/Acrobatic-Extent-668

▲ 29 r/askmath

Is the probability 3/8 or 9/64 ?

The question reads out-

"There is a test consisting of 3 questions with 4 options each. Only one option is correct. A student guesses all 3 of them and gets exactly 2 right and one wrong. What is the probability of doing so?"

I reasoned this by the following method:

There are a total of 4*4*4=64 possible ways of answering.

There is only one way of getting an answer right, but three methods of getting a wrong answer. Total cases: 1*1*3*3 (for 3 questions)=9

Therefore probability is 9/64

However, our teacher told us to list the sample space

S={RRR,RRW,RWR,WRR,WWW,WWR,WRW,RWW}

There are 3 cases out of 8 in getting 2 answers right. So probability is 3/8.

Now, the question I wanted to ask is which one is correct? Because I feel that my method is more logical. Thanks.

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u/Acrobatic-Extent-668 — 23 hours ago

The question is given above. If r is an integer, show that 24 | r(r²-1)(3r+2)
I was given to prove this question as homework, and I succeeded by using congruent modulo to show how even if r is even/odd, there will be a term or group of terms divisible by 3 and 8, but my proof of the divisibility by 24 is ridiculously long (stretching 1.5 pages), and I was wondering if there could be a shorter proof for this, especially one that doesn't use congruent modulo (I'm in grade 9, and my teacher will tear my homework if she sees this). I will be grateful for any help or advice. Thanks.

u/Acrobatic-Extent-668 — 8 days ago