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JEE Advanced 2025 Paper 1 · Mathematics · Probability · medium

Players A and B throw a fair die alternately, A first. A wins at once if his throw shows 6; B wins at once if his throw shows 4, 5 or 6. Given that…

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Players AA and BB throw a fair die alternately, AA first. AA wins at once if his throw shows 66; BB wins at once if his throw shows 44, 55 or 66. Given that the game ends within the first three throws, the probability that AA is the winner is pp. Find pp correct to two decimal places.
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Answer: 0.36

Let the throws be numbered 1,2,3,…1,2,3,\dots with AA on odd throws. AA wins on throw 1 with probability 16\frac16. The game reaches throw 2 with probability 56\frac56, and BB wins there with probability 56⋅12=512\frac56\cdot\frac12=\frac5{12}. The game reaches throw 3 only if both failed, with probability 56⋅12=512\frac56\cdot\frac12=\frac5{12}, and AA wins there with probability 512⋅16=572\frac5{12}\cdot\frac16=\frac5{72}. The game cannot end by throw 3 in any other way, so P(ends within 3)=16+512+572=12+30+572=4772P(\text{ends within 3})=\frac16+\frac5{12}+\frac5{72}=\frac{12+30+5}{72}=\frac{47}{72}. AA wins in 16+572=1772\frac16+\frac5{72}=\frac{17}{72} of the cases. The required conditional probability is p=17/7247/72=1747=0.3617≈0.36p=\frac{17/72}{47/72}=\frac{17}{47}=0.3617\approx0.36. Exact fraction arithmetic confirms 17/4717/47.
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