Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /269 of 353

Combinatorics Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

Consider the paths from (0,0)(0,0) to (6,3)(6,3) that only take steps of unit length up and right. Compute the sum of the areas bounded by the path, the xx-axis, and the line x=6x=6 over all such paths.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

We see that the sum of the areas under the path is equal the sum of the areas above the path. Thus, the sum of the areas under the path is half the area of the rectangle times the number of paths, which is 18(93)2=756\frac{18\binom{9}{3}}{2}=756.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.