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Switching Teams (Posted on 2014-02-28) Difficulty: 3 of 5
You and three friends decide to play a strange game.

Into a hat you place four slips of paper. One has a gold star, one has a red X, and the other two are blank.

Each round will proceed as follows: Each person will select a piece of paper from the hat. Whichever player chooses the slip with the red X joins the "team" of the player who chooses the slip with the gold star. Then all four slips are returned to the hat and the process is repeated. The game ends when all four players are on the same team.

1) On average, how many rounds will the game last until all four players are on the same team?

2) Find a general solution for n players (where the hat contains one gold star, one red X, and n-2 blank slips).

No Solution Yet Submitted by tomarken    
Rating: 4.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re(2): n = 4 (spoiler)Steve Herman2014-02-28 21:08:54
re: n = 4 (spoiler)Charlie2014-02-28 17:51:23
SolutionsolutionCharlie2014-02-28 17:22:44
Solutionn = 4 (spoiler)Steve Herman2014-02-28 16:19:41
re: To Charlie.Charlie2014-02-28 14:39:21
re: Clarifying questionstomarken2014-02-28 13:47:12
QuestionClarifying questionsJer2014-02-28 12:58:08
To Charlie.Jer2014-02-28 12:54:46
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