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Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Qualification Repechage
2018 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Qualification
8
8
Part of
2018 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Qualification
Problems
(1)
Cycling cards in a row
Source: Canada Repêchage 2018/8
4/9/2018
Let
n
n
n
and
k
k
k
be positive integers with
1
≤
k
≤
n
1 \leq k \leq n
1
≤
k
≤
n
. A set of cards numbered
1
1
1
to
n
n
n
are arranged randomly in a row from left to right. A person alternates between performing the following moves: [*] The leftmost card in the row is moved
k
−
1
k-1
k
−
1
positions to the right while the cards in positions
2
2
2
through
k
k
k
are each moved one place to the left. [*] The rightmost card in the row is moved
k
−
1
k-1
k
−
1
positions to the left while the cards in positions
n
−
k
+
1
n-k+1
n
−
k
+
1
through
n
−
1
n-1
n
−
1
are each moved one place to the right.Determine the probability that after some number of moves the cards end up in order from
1
1
1
to
n
n
n
, left to right.
probability
combinatorics