MathDB
2022 LMT Spring Accuracy Problem 9

Source:

September 29, 2023
combinatorics

Problem Statement

A rook is randomly placed on an otherwise empty 8×88 \times 8 chessboard. Owen makes moves with the rook by randomly choosing 11 of the 1414 possible moves. Find the expected value of the number of moves it takes Owen to move the rook to the top left square. Note that a rook can move any number of squares either in the horizontal or vertical direction each move.