Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ia/paper-2/3f/solution

The independent and identically distributed random variables have a continuous probability distribution, so any tie has probability zero. Their joint probability density is unchanged by a permutation of their indices: this is order symmetry of independent random variables. The strict orderings are disjoint and exhaust the sample space apart from the zero-probability ties. Each ordering therefore has the same probability, and their probabilities sum to one.
The probability is

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