Question 11

NUMERICALMEDIUM

A bookshelf contains 6 distinct books of Mathematics and 5 distinct books of Physics. From these 11 books, 6 books are chosen at random. Let XX be the absolute value of the difference between the number of Mathematics books chosen and the number of Physics books chosen. If α\alpha is the mean of the random variable XX, then the value of 77α77\alpha is ___________.

Correct Answer: 100

Detailed Solution

Total ways to choose 6 books from 11 is (116)=462\binom{11}{6} = 462. Let MM and PP be the number of Math and Physics books chosen respectively, where M+P=6M + P = 6. The possible scenarios are:

  1. M=6,P=0⇒X=∣6−0∣=6M=6, P=0 \Rightarrow X=|6-0|=6. Ways: (66)(50)=1\binom{6}{6}\binom{5}{0} = 1.
  2. M=5,P=1⇒X=∣5−1∣=4M=5, P=1 \Rightarrow X=|5-1|=4. Ways: (65)(51)=30\binom{6}{5}\binom{5}{1} = 30.
  3. M=4,P=2⇒X=∣4−2∣=2M=4, P=2 \Rightarrow X=|4-2|=2. Ways: (64)(52)=150\binom{6}{4}\binom{5}{2} = 150.
  4. M=3,P=3⇒X=∣3−3∣=0M=3, P=3 \Rightarrow X=|3-3|=0. Ways: (63)(53)=200\binom{6}{3}\binom{5}{3} = 200.
  5. M=2,P=4⇒X=∣2−4∣=2M=2, P=4 \Rightarrow X=|2-4|=2. Ways: (62)(54)=75\binom{6}{2}\binom{5}{4} = 75.
  6. M=1,P=5⇒X=∣1−5∣=4M=1, P=5 \Rightarrow X=|1-5|=4. Ways: (61)(55)=6\binom{6}{1}\binom{5}{5} = 6. Note: M=0,P=6M=0, P=6 is impossible as only 5 Physics books exist.

Mean α=E[X]=1462∑Xi⋅waysi\alpha = E[X] = \frac{1}{462} \sum X_i \cdot \text{ways}_i α=1462[6(1)+4(30)+2(150)+0(200)+2(75)+4(6)]\alpha = \frac{1}{462} [6(1) + 4(30) + 2(150) + 0(200) + 2(75) + 4(6)] α=1462[6+120+300+0+150+24]=600462\alpha = \frac{1}{462} [6 + 120 + 300 + 0 + 150 + 24] = \frac{600}{462} 77α=77×600462=6006=10077\alpha = 77 \times \frac{600}{462} = \frac{600}{6} = 100. Final Answer: 100.

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