Ants on a triangle
Puzzle Question:
there are three ants on a triangle, one at each corner. at a given moment in time, they all set off for a different corner at random. what is the probability that they don't collide?
Level of Toughness:
Intermediate
Consider the triangle ABC.
Consider the triangle ABC. We assume that the ants move towards different corners along the edges of the triangle.
Total no. of movements: 8 A->B, B->C, C->A A->B, B->A, C->A A->B, B->A, C->B A->B, B->C, C->B A->C, B->C, C->A A->C, B->A, C->A A->C, B->A, C->B A->C, B->C, C->B
Non-colliding movements: 2 A->B, B->C, C->A A->C, B->A, C->B
(i.e. the all ants move either in the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction at the same time)
P(not colliding) = 2/8 = 0.25