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Back to throne (Posted on 2015-05-21) Difficulty: 2 of 5
Imagine a chess King placed in the central square C(5,5) of a 9x9 “checkerboard”. King’s step consists of his displacement to the neighboring square in one of the 8 directions.

What is the probability that his 4-step random walk terminates at square C?

See The Solution Submitted by Ady TZIDON    
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Solution computer exploration and solution | Comment 2 of 3 |
Probability distributions about the central square after moves 1, 2, 3 and 4:

 0.125000000 0.125000000 0.125000000
 0.125000000 0.000000000 0.125000000
 0.125000000 0.125000000 0.125000000

 0.015625000 0.031250000 0.046875000 0.031250000 0.015625000
 0.031250000 0.031250000 0.062500000 0.031250000 0.031250000
 0.046875000 0.062500000 0.125000000 0.062500000 0.046875000
 0.031250000 0.031250000 0.062500000 0.031250000 0.031250000
 0.015625000 0.031250000 0.046875000 0.031250000 0.015625000

 0.001953125 0.005859375 0.011718750 0.013671875 0.011718750 0.005859375 0.001953125
 0.005859375 0.011718750 0.023437500 0.023437500 0.023437500 0.011718750 0.005859375
 0.011718750 0.023437500 0.052734375 0.052734375 0.052734375 0.023437500 0.011718750
 0.013671875 0.023437500 0.052734375 0.046875000 0.052734375 0.023437500 0.013671875
 0.011718750 0.023437500 0.052734375 0.052734375 0.052734375 0.023437500 0.011718750
 0.005859375 0.011718750 0.023437500 0.023437500 0.023437500 0.011718750 0.005859375
 0.001953125 0.005859375 0.011718750 0.013671875 0.011718750 0.005859375 0.001953125

 0.000244141 0.000976563 0.002441406 0.003906250 0.004638672 0.003906250 0.002441406 0.000976563 0.000244141
 0.000976563 0.002929688 0.006835938 0.009765625 0.011718750 0.009765625 0.006835938 0.002929688 0.000976563
 0.002441406 0.006835938 0.017089844 0.024414063 0.030273438 0.024414063 0.017089844 0.006835938 0.002441406
 0.003906250 0.009765625 0.024414063 0.032226563 0.041015625 0.032226563 0.024414063 0.009765625 0.003906250
 0.004638672 0.011718750 0.030273438 0.041015625 0.052734375 0.041015625 0.030273438 0.011718750 0.004638672
 0.003906250 0.009765625 0.024414063 0.032226563 0.041015625 0.032226563 0.024414063 0.009765625 0.003906250
 0.002441406 0.006835938 0.017089844 0.024414063 0.030273438 0.024414063 0.017089844 0.006835938 0.002441406
 0.000976563 0.002929688 0.006835938 0.009765625 0.011718750 0.009765625 0.006835938 0.002929688 0.000976563
 0.000244141 0.000976563 0.002441406 0.003906250 0.004638672 0.003906250 0.002441406 0.000976563 0.000244141

The 0.052734375 at C after the 4th move, expressed as a common fraction, before reduction to lowest terms, must have a denominator of 8^4 = 32768. Multiplying by this we get 1728 for the numerator so the desired probability is:

0.052734375 = 1728/32768  =  27/512

from:

DefDbl A-Z
Dim crlf$, grid(9, 9, 4)

Function mform$(x, t$)
  a$ = Format$(x, t$)
  If Len(a$) < Len(t$) Then a$ = Space$(Len(t$) - Len(a$)) & a$
  mform$ = a$
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()
 Text1.Text = ""
 crlf$ = Chr(13) + Chr(10)
 Form1.Visible = True
 
 
 grid(5, 5, 0) = 1
 For stp = 1 To 4
    For row = 1 To 9
    For col = 1 To 9
     If grid(row, col, stp - 1) > 0 Then
      For r = row - 1 To row + 1
      For c = col - 1 To col + 1
        If r <> row Or c <> col Then
          grid(r, c, stp) = grid(r, c, stp) + grid(row, col, stp - 1) / 8
        End If
      Next
      Next
     End If
    Next
    Next
    For r = 5 - stp To 5 + stp
    For c = 5 - stp To 5 + stp
      Text1.Text = Text1.Text & mform(grid(r, c, stp), " 0.000000000")
    Next c
    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf
    Next r
    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf
 Next stp
 
 g = gcd(Int(grid(5, 5, stp - 1) * 2 ^ 15 + 0.5), Int(2 ^ 15 + 0.5))

 Text1.Text = Text1.Text & grid(5, 5, stp - 1) * 2 ^ 15 & "/" & 2 ^ 15 & "  =  "
 Text1.Text = Text1.Text & grid(5, 5, stp - 1) * 2 ^ 15 / g & "/" & 2 ^ 15 / g & crlf

 Text1.Text = Text1.Text & " done" & crlf
 
 
End Sub

Function gcd(a, b)
  x = a: y = b
  Do
   q = Int(x / y)
   z = x - q * y
   x = y: y = z
  Loop Until z = 0
  gcd = x
End Function

Edited on May 21, 2015, 10:35 am
  Posted by Charlie on 2015-05-21 10:34:51

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