题目
A drawer contained red socks and black socks. When two socks are drawn at random, the probability that both are red is . What is the minimum number of socks that could be in the drawer ?
解析
一个抽屉里装着红袜子和黑袜子。当随机抽出两只袜子时,两只都是红色的概率是\(\boldsymbol{\frac{1}{2}}\)。抽屉里最少可能有多少只袜子?
\(R\) = 红球数量,\(B\) = 黑球数量,\(N\) = 球的总数。
已知:
\[
\frac{R}{R+B} \times \frac{R-1}{R+B-1} = \frac{1}{2}
\]
推导:
\[
\begin{align*}
2R(R-1) &= (R+B)(R+B-1) \\
2R(R-1) &= N(N-1) \\
2R^2 - 2R &= N^2 - N
\end{align*}
\]
由此可得 \(N = 2R\)。
因为红球至少有2个,所以 \(N\) 的最小值为 \(2 \times 2 = 4\)。
验证:当 \(N=4\)、\(R=3\)、\(B=1\) 时,也满足题目条件。