AMC 10 Step by Step
2024 AMC 10AProblem 17P16-20~4 minPrint

Two teams are in a best-two-out-of-three playoff: the teams will play at most 33 games, and the winner of the playoff is the first team to win 22 games. The first game is played on Team A's home field, and the remaining games are played on Team B's home field. Team A has a 23\frac{2}{3} chance of winning at home, and its probability of winning when playing away from home is pp . Outcomes of the games are independent. The probability that Team A wins the playoff is 12\frac{1}{2} . Then pp can be written in the form 12(mn)\frac{1}{2}(m - \sqrt{n}) , where mm and nn are positive integers. What is m+nm+n ?

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Problem © Mathematical Association of America (MAA), American Mathematics Competitions. Reproduced for non-commercial educational use. Solution and commentary are original to this site.