Ten balls are thrown randomly into three buckets.

probabilityprobability distributions

how would you solve this problem?
Ten balls are thrown randomly into three buckets. Compute the probability that each bucket contains at least one ball.

Best Answer

The answer is assuming that the balls can only land in the three buckets and each bucket is equally likely as a target.
The easier way to do it would be thinking go it in the other direction: What is the probability that at least one bucket has no balls?
Let the aforementioned probability be: P
Therefore, the answer you require is: 1 - P.
To calculate P:
$P = $ probability that ball lands only in any 2 buckets($=P_1$) $+$ probability that ball lands in only one bucket($=P_2$) $$ P_1 = {3\choose 2} (\frac{2}{3})^{10} $$ as, you choose any two buckets in which are the balls are supposed to fall ${3\choose 2}$ and the probability that the ball falls only in those two is $\frac{2}{3}$.
Since you are throwing 10 balls, simply multiple $\frac{2}{3}$ 10 times to give $P_1$ $$ P_2 = {3\choose 1} (\frac{1}{3})^{10} $$ as, you choose only buckets in which are the balls are supposed to fall ${3\choose 1}$ and the probability that the ball falls only in that bucket is $\frac{1}{3}$.
Since you are throwing 10 balls, simply multiple $\frac{1}{3}$ 10 times to give $P_1$
Therefore, your answer is: $$ 1 - P_1 - P_2 = 1 - {3\choose 2} (\frac{2}{3})^{10} - {3\choose 1} (\frac{1}{3})^{10} $$

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