MTH1304 Spring 2011

Counting Study Guide

Basic Counting Problems (using Multiplication principle, Ad-
dition principle, combinations, and permutations)
First practice following problems from the book:
Section 8.2: 9-36.
Section 8.3: 13-30.

A note on notation: Please don’t use the P (n, k) and the C(n, k)
notations. Write n(n − 1)(n − 2)(n − 3)...(n − k + 1) instead of P (n, k), and
write nk instead of C(n, k).

It might seem like a lot of problems in the above ranges, but these are
basic counting problems, so they are very quick to solve and also you might
need that much practice. Practice at least enough until you begin to feel
comfortable with the concepts. Here are some more practice problems (make
sure you practice these to see how much is your understanding):

1. How many license plates can be made using either 3 digits followed by
3 letters or three letters followed by 3 digits?

2. How many license plates can be made using either 3 letters followed
by 3 digits or 4 letters followed by 2 digits?

3. How many strings of eight English letters are there

(a) if letters can be repeated?

(b) if no letter can be repeated?
(c) that start with X, if letters can be repeated?
(d) that start with X, if no letter can be repeated?
(e) that start and end with X, if letters can be repeated?
(f) that start with the letters BO (in that order), if letters can be
repeated?
(g) that start and end with the letters BO (in that order), if letters
can be repeated?
(h) that start or end with the letters BO (in that order), if letters
can be repeated?

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 (i) that don’t start with BO, if letters can be repeated?
(j) that neither start with BO and nor end with BO?
(k) that don’t contain the letter C, if letters can be repeated?
(l) that don’t contain C and D at the same time (so the string may
not contain either, may contain C without having a D, or may
contain D without having a C), if letters can be repeated?
(m) that contain exactly one Z, if letters can be repeated?

4. How many functions are there from the set {a, b, c, d, e} to the set
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}?

5. How many of the functions in above question are one-to-one?

6. How many functions are there from a set with 10 elements to a set
with 3 elements?

7. How many of the functions in above question are one-to-one?

8. Each student in the discrete maths class will be given a final grade of
A, B, C or D. If the class has 23 students, how many possible final
grade outcomes are there for the whole class?

9. How many 3-permutations are there from the set {a, b, c, d, e}? List
all of them.

10. How many 4-combinations are there from the set {a, b, c, d, e, f }? List
all of them.

11. Five runners take part in a race. Assuming there are no ties, how
many different outcomes of the race are possible (when looking at the
order that the contestants finish the race in)?

12. How many bit strings of length 12 contain

(a) exactly 3 1’s?

(b) at most 3 1’s?
(c) at least 3 1’s?
(d) an equal number of 0’s and 1’s?

13. We will be constructing strings from the alphabet W, X, Y, Z in this

problem. Call such strings WXYZ strings. How many WXYZ strings
of length 8 contain

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 (a) exactly 3 W’s?
(b) at most 3 W’s?
(c) exactly 3 W’s and exactly 2 Z’s?
(d) are palindromic (i.e. read the same forward and backward, for
example XXWZZWXX)?

14. How many permutations of the letters ABCDEFGH contain

(a) the string ED?

(b) the string BA and FGH?
(c) the string DC and CGH?
(d) the string DC and CAD?

15. How many ways can we select 6 letters from the set {A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J}
if it is specified that E can only be selected if F is also chosen? Note
that it is not saying that you have to have E, but if you have E you
must have F as well.

16. Mathematics department at a university has 10 men and 15 women.

A committee of six members needs to be made. How many different
committees can be made if the committee has to have more women
than men?

17. How many ways are there for 10 adults and 6 children to stand in a
line so that no two children stand next to each other? [Hint: First
position the adults and then consider the placement of children.]
How many positive integers with exactly four decimal digits, that is,
positive integers between 1000 and 9999 inclusive,

(a) are divisible by 9?

(b) are even?
(c) have distinct digits?
(d) are not divisible by 3?
(e) are divisible by 5 or 7?
(f) are not divisible by either 5 or 7?
(g) are neither divisible by 5 nor by 7?
(h) are divisible by 5 but not by 7?

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 (i) are divisible by 5 and 7?

18. You should think how you would do the above questions if instead of
5 and 7, the numbers are 8 and 12.

19. For each of the expressions below, come up with a simple counting
problem to which it is the answer:

(a) 2n
(b) 3n
(c) 4n
(d) 15n
(e) k n
(f) 5!
(g) n!
n

(h) 3
n
n

(i) 3 + 4
n

(j) k
n nk


(k)
(l) 12 ∗ 11 ∗ 10 ∗ 9 ∗ 8 ∗ 7
(m) n(n − 1)(n − 2)(n − 3)(n − 4)...(n − 12)

20. Count the number of ways to get from the lower left corner of the grid
(given below) to the upper right corner. Along the route, you are only
allowed to take steps right or up.

21. Solve the above problem for a general m × n grid. The grid given
above is a 3 × 5 grid.

22. (Slightly more challenging problem) Count the number of all rectangles
you see in the above grid.

23. Solve the above problem for a general m × n grid.

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 24. A discrete maths class has 30 students. The professor has asked each
student to pick a length 10 string of English letters as the student’s
class name. How many outcomes are possible?

25. Under the above scenario, how many outcomes are possible if the pro-
fessor doesn’t allow any two students to pick the same class name?

26. Under the above scenario, if we don’t care which student has which
string, how many outcomes are possible? The restriction of uniqueness
of class name string is still applicable here. In other words, if the
professor just writes down the 30 strings on a piece of paper (the
sequence in which these 30 strings are written doesn’t matter), how
many outcomes are possible? Being precise mathematically, one would
say, how many possible sets of 30 such strings are possible?

Pigeonhole Principle
First practice following problems:
Section 8.2: 1-8.
Then practice the following problems:

1. What’s the minimum number of people needed in a group to guarantee

that at least two people in the group have their last names begin with
the same letter of English alphabet?

2. What’s the minimum number of people needed in a group to guarantee

that at least 8 people in the group have their last names begin with
the same letter of English alphabet?

3. What’s the minimum number of people needed in a group to guarantee

that at least 8 people in the group have the same first name initial and
have the same last name initial?

4. How many students should a course section contain to ensure that

there are at least 6 of at least one class (first-years, sophomores, ju-
niors, seniors)?

Binomial Coefficients and Pascal’s Triangle

Practice a few from the following:
Section 8.1: 5-18.

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Combinations and Permutations with Repetition
Practice a few diverse problems from Section 8.4: 1-32 until you feel you are
comfortable with both combinations with repetition and permutations with
repetition. Be sure to try the following ones:
Section 8.4: 9, 13, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 32.
Here are some more I made up for your practice.

1. How many ways are there to choose a dozen donuts from the 21 vari-
eties at a donut shop?

2. A croissant shop carries following types of croissants: plain, almond,

chocolate, apple, apricot, and cherry. How many ways are there to
choose

(a) a dozen croissants?

(b) 25 croissants?
(c) 24 croissants with at least two of each kind?
(d) 24 croissants with no more than 3 plain croissants?
(e) 24 croissants with at least five plain croissants and at least three
almond croissants?
(f) 24 croissants with at least five plain croissants or at least three
almond croissants?

3. How many combinations of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters can a

coin jar contain if it has 20 coins in it?

4. How many solutions are there to the equation w + x + y + z = 17 if

each of these variables can be an integer with a value of 0 or more?

5. How many solutions are there to the equation w +x+y +z = 17 if each

of these variables can be an integer with the restrictions 3 ≤ x, 6 ≤ y?

6. How many solutions are there to the equation w + x + y + z = 17 if

each of these variables can be an integer with the restrictions 3 ≤ x
or 6 ≤ y? [Hint: Be careful here ... how does this differ from the one
above?]

7. How many solutions are there to the equation w + x + y + z = 17 if

each of these variables can be an integer with the restrictions w ≤ 8?

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 8. How many strings can be made from the letters in ALAKHAWAY-
NUNIVERSITY if all the letters have to be used?

9. How many 2-word strings can be made from the letters in ALAKHAWAY-
NUNIVERSITY if all the letters have to be used? [Hint: first make a
1-word string and then figure out how many ways can you split it into
a 2-word string.]

10. How many 3-word strings can be made from the letters in ALAKHAWAY-
NUNIVERSITY if all the letters have to be used?

11. A student bought a box of granola bars that contains a total of 12

bars with following number of each kind: 3 cherry bars, 5 vanilla bars,
2 peanut bars and 2 raisin bars. If he eats one bar every day, in how
many different orders can these 12 bars be consumed by him?

12. A father brought home 10 chocolates and 8 mint candies for his 3
children. The chocolates are all the same, and all the mint candies are
the same as well. In how many ways can he distribute these among
his children under

(a) no restriction on the distributions?

(b) the restriction that each child must get at least one chocolate and
at least one candy?
(c) under the restriction that each child must get at least one choco-
late?
(d) (don’t do this one now but something to think about) under the
restriction that each child must get at least one item (whether
it is a chocolate or a candy)? Is there an easy way to calculate
this?

Generating Combinations and Permutations in Lexicographi-

cal Order
1. Put these permutations of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} in lexicographic order: 234561,
231456, 165432, 156423, 543216, 541236, 231465, 314562, 432561,
654321, 654312, 435612.

2. For each of these permutations, find the next one and the previous one
in lexicographic order:

(a) 4532761

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 (b) 78436521
(c) BJHFACDIGE

3. Consider the symbols !, @, #, $, %, &, *, + (written in the alphabetic

order of this strange alphabet). What is the next permutation in
lexicographic order after %#+!*&$@ ?

4. Consider the 6! = 720 permutations of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. The first one

in lexicographic order is 123456 and the 720th one is 654321. What
are the 24th, 121st, 240th, 385th permutations in lexicographic order?
[Hint: 24 = 4!, 120 = 5!, 240 = 2 ∗ 5!, 384 = 3 ∗ 5! + 4!.]

5. Write all the 3-combinations of {1, 2, 3, 4} in lexicographic order.

6. Consider the 6 combinations of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12}. For

each of the following 3-combinations from this set, write the next one
in lexicographic order:

(a) {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
(b) {1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12}
(c) {2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12}

7. Consider all the 10-combinations of the 26 English letters. For each of

these 10-combinations, write the next one in lexicographic order:

(a) {a, g, k, l, o, p, u, w, y, z}
(b) {b, e, g, i, l, m, n, o, y, z}

Combinatorial Proofs of Some Identities

Coming soon ...

Balls and Boxes

Coming soon ... for this I will not ask hard questions. Just want you to show
familiarity in understanding the setup, and what difference labelledness and
unlabelledness makes. I will post some problems soon here.

Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion
Coming soon ...

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Recurrence Relations
Coming soon ...