Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/ia/paper-2/3f/b/solution

For a fixed horse , independence of the race results gives probability of winning every race. The events that different horses win every race are disjoint, so
This is a homogeneous polynomial of degree . Apply part (a) to the nonnegative numbers , whose sum is one, to obtain . For the smallest probability occurs when every horse has winning probability ; for a single race regardless of these probabilities.

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