Charlotte the spider is walking along a web shaped like a 5-pointed star, shown in the figure below. The web has 5 outer points and 5 inner points. Each time Charlotte reaches a point, she randomly chooses a neighboring point and moves to that point. Charlotte starts at one of the outer points and makes 3 moves (revisiting points is allowed). What is the probability she is now at one of the inner points of the star ?
A. 14\frac{1}{4}
B. 25\frac{2}{5}
C. 12\frac{1}{2}
D. 35\frac{3}{5}
E. 34\frac{3}{4}

Worked solution

1. 分析五角星网格的图结构及单步转移概率

五角星由5条相交线段组成,共有5个外部顶点(外角顶点)和5个内部顶点(线段交点)。

  • 每个外部顶点连有2条线段,其2个相邻顶点均为内部顶点。因此,从任意外部顶点出发,下一步移动到内部顶点的概率为 11,移动到外部顶点的概率为 00。
  • 每个内部顶点连有4条线段,分别连向2个外部顶点和2个内部顶点。因此,从任意内部顶点出发,下一步移动到外部顶点的概率为 24=12\frac{2}{4} = \frac{1}{2},移动到内部顶点的概率为 24=12\frac{2}{4} = \frac{1}{2}。

2. 逐步推导并计算3次移动后处于内部顶点的概率

设夏洛特在第 nn 次移动后位于外部顶点和内部顶点的概率分别为 P(On)P(O_n) 和 P(In)P(I_n)。

  • 初始状态(第0步):位于某一外部顶点,即 P(O0)=1P(O_0) = 1,P(I0)=0P(I_0) = 0。
  • 第1次移动后:
    P(I1)=1,P(O1)=0P(I_1) = 1, \quad P(O_1) = 0
  • 第2次移动后:
    P(O2)=P(I1)×12=12P(O_2) = P(I_1) \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{2}
    P(I2)=P(I1)×12=12P(I_2) = P(I_1) \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{2}
  • 第3次移动后:
    夏洛特处于内部顶点的概率为来自第2步处于外部顶点和处于内部顶点的两类互斥情形之和:
    P(I3)=P(O2)×1+P(I2)×12=12×1+12×12=12+14=34P(I_3) = P(O_2) \times 1 + P(I_2) \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{2} \times 1 + \frac{1}{2} \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{4} = \frac{3}{4}
    因此,正确选项为 E。
Answer

E

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