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Grade 7 Session 9: Combinatorics

COMBINATORICS

The goal of counting techniques is to calculate probabilities. By itself however, counting techniques constitute an
interesting part of mathematics. Here we focus on counting techniques and leave probability for some other time.

A. Fundamental Counting Principle:

Suppose two tasks are to be performed in succession. If the first task 𝑇1 can be done in 𝑚1 ways, and the second
task 𝑇2 can be done in 𝑚2 ways, then the number of ways to do 𝑇1 and 𝑇2 is 𝑚1 × 𝑚2 .

Example 1 There are eight ways to travel from Makati to BGC and twenty ways to travel from BGC to Pasig. If Lloyd
intends to travel from Makati to Pasig via BGC, how many possible ways could he travel?

B. Permutation of Distinguishable Objects

Consider a collection X of objects. A permutation of X is an arrangement of the elements in X. For example, if

X={A,B,C,D,E}, the sequences ABCDE, EDCBA, ADCEB are only some of the many possible permutations of X.

Example 2: How many permutations are there of the letters in the word COUNT? How many of these permutations
end with U?

A special notation had been prepared for the frequent use of multiplying consecutive numbers: the factorial. For a
natural number n, define 𝑛! = 𝑛 × (𝑛 − 1) × ⋯ × 3 × 2 × 1, with a special convention that 0! = 1. For example,
5!=120. It will also be helpful to know that 𝑛! = 𝑛(𝑛 − 1)! = 𝑛(𝑛 − 1)(𝑛 − 2)! and so on. For example, 10! =
10 × 9! = 10 × 9 × 8!.

Example 3: How many ways can Alvin, Bob, Charlie, Daisy, and Eve line up so that all the males are between the
females?

The arrangements that we want do not always require arranging the whole collection of objects. In many cases, we
only need to arrange r objects from n distinct objects, and this can always be done in P(n,r) ways. Different
notations include 𝑃(𝑛, 𝑟) =𝑛 𝑃𝑟 = 𝑃𝑟𝑛 . We say “the number of permutations of n objects taking r at a time” or simply
“the permutation of n taken r.”

𝑛!
FORMULA: the number of ways to arrange r objects from n distinct objects is 𝑃(𝑛, 𝑟) = (𝑛−𝑟)!.

Example 4: In a class of 18 students, 10 are boys. How many ways can a teacher select a President and a Vice-
President if he chooses randomly? How many ways can he choose a female President and a female Vice-President?

B. Permutation of Indistinguishable Objects

In the previous part we arrange only objects which are distinct. For instance, a similar approach will not work if
the collection of objects has identical objects. Consider the following example.

Example 5: How many ways can you arrange the letters in the word INFINITE?

FORMULA: Suppose you have a collection of n objects, of which 𝑛1 are of type 1, 𝑛𝑘 are of type 2, and so on, until 𝑛𝑘
𝑛!
are of type 𝑘, of course, with 𝑛1 + 𝑛2 + ⋯ + 𝑛𝑘 = 𝑛. The the number of ways to arrange these n objects is .
𝑛1 !𝑛2 !⋯𝑛𝑘 !

Example 6: Two persons on two nearby peaks of a mountain use a sequence of six flags to communicate with each
other. Each has 3 red and 3 yellow flags, and both agreed on a fixed message corresponding to each sequence. At
most how many different possible messages can they make?
C. Circular Permutations

Note that our arrangements above seemed to arrange them into order where we
can differentiate the first, from the second, from the last. Arranging around a
circle can be a bit more troublesome. For instance, if we are to arrange a star, a
triangle, and a square around a circle, the three configurations below can be
considered to be the same if we only take into account their position relative to each other.

FORMULA: Taking into account relative position, 𝑛 distinct objects can be arranged around a circle in (𝑛 − 1)!
ways.

Example 7: There are 12 knights to be seated in the round table. How many different seating arrangements can
they have?

Example 8: Alice, Becky, Charlotte, Dina, and Erika wants to sit around a table, but Alice insists on being beside
Erika. How many different arrangements are possible? What if Alice instead does not want to sit beside Erika?

D. Combinations

Unlike the previous parts where we arrange objects gathered from a set, in this chapter, we focus on the number of
ways we can form a combination of r objects from a collection of n distinct objects. Consider a collection X of
objects. A combination of r objects from X is a collection of r elements taken from X. For example, if X={A,B,C,D,E},
the subsets {A,B,C,D}, {A,B,C,E}, {A,B,D,E}, {A,C,D,E},and {B,C,D,E} are the only combinations of four elements from
X.

Example 9: There are 𝑛 ≥ 3 participants in a race. How many possible ways can the organizer award the three
identical prizes for the first three finishers?

𝑛
Combinations can be seen in the calculator as 𝐶(𝑛, 𝑟) or 𝐶𝑟𝑛 or ( ) or 𝑛 𝐶𝑟 . We say “the number of combinations of
𝑟
n objects taking r at a time” or simply “the combination of n taken r” or much simply, “n choose r.” It is generally
acceptable to leave the answer in combinatorial form but only if the numbers are very big.

𝑛!
FORMULA: the number of ways to choose r objects from n distinct objects is 𝐶(𝑛, 𝑟) = (𝑛−𝑟)!𝑟!.
It is nice to know that 𝐶(𝑛, 𝑛) = 𝐶(𝑛, 0) = 1, and 𝐶(𝑛, 𝑛 − 1) = 𝐶(𝑛, 1) = 𝑛. Indeed, the number of ways to form a
group of everyone from everyone is 1, and that is also the number of ways to form a group of no one. This kind of
reasoning is called a combinatorial argument, as opposed to using the formula.

Example 10: Fifteen invited people are present in a party hosted by Mr. Gates, and each shook hands with each
other. How many handshakes occured?

Example 11: A class consists of 12 girls and 8 boys. How many ways can a teacher select a cleaning committee
consisting of (a) 3 boys? (b) 3 girls? (c) 2 boys and 2 girls

Stretching Exercises:

1. Evaluate the following

a. 𝑛! where 𝑛 = 1,2,3, … ,8
b. 10!/(8! 2!)
c. 𝑃(10,3)
d. 𝑃(6,5)
e. 𝐶(10,2)
f. 𝐶(7,3)

2. Chiara has 10 polos of different colors, and 7 different trousers. How many ways are there for Chiara to
choose a set of one polo and one trouser to wear to the office?

3. How many different four-letter strings are there that begin with an A (letters may be repeated)?

4. In how many different orders can six runners finish a race if no ties are allowed?

AMEP SC - Grade 7 Prepared by Emmanuel Plan

 5. How many ways can you arrange five boys along a row
a. if there are no restrictions?
b. John and Lloyd are next to each other?

6. How many six-digit positive integers can be formed using the digits from 1 to 8 with the even and odd
digits alternate?

7. How many permutations of the letters CHEMISTRY contain the string TRY (the letters TRY must appear
together in this order)?

8. How many ways to arrange 10 boys and 10 girls in a row so that they alternate?

9. How many ways can you arrange the letters of the word
a. APPLE?
b. CROCODILE?
c. MISSISSIPPI?

10. How many ways can you arrange the letters of the word CORONA if the vowels must not be next to each
other?

11. Suppose that a large family has 10 children, including two sets of identical triplets, one set of identical
twins, two individual children. How many ways are there to seat these children in a row if the each child
among the identical triplets or the twins are indistinguishable between the triplets/twin?

12. How many ways are there to choose 5 students for a basketball team from a class of 20 students?

13. There are 24 senators in the Philippines. The Senate president wants to make a team of 4 senators who will
comprise of the committee in charge of environment-related bills. In how many ways can the committee be
formed?

14. A house has four rooms of different sizes – one with 4 beds, one with 3 beds, one with 2 beds, and one with
1 bed. Ten people want to sleep in the house. How many ways can they share the rooms?

15. How many ways are there to form a jury of 6 members from a group of 10 men and 15 women such that
there are the same number of men and women in the jury?

16. A coin is flipped 9 times. Each flip comes up either heads or tails. The outcome HTHTHTHTH represent the
outcome of alternating heads and tails. How many possible outcomes contain: a. exactly 4 tails? b. At most
3 heads?

Train your mind

1. A yogurt shop has four different flavors and six different toppings. If a customer wanted to get one
flavor and two different toppings, how many combinations could she get? (Mathcounts 1990)

2. How many strings of five letters of the English alphabet are there that:
a. Contain at least one vowel, and letters can be repeated?
b. Contain exactly one vowel and letters cannot be repeated?

3. A Morse code only uses dots and dashes, with a sequence of dots and dashes corresponding to one
character. How many characters can be constructed if a character corresponds to a sequence using 6
dots and 2 dashes?

4. For what value of 𝑛 is the following true: 𝑃(𝑛, 2) = 420?

AMEP SC - Grade 7 Prepared by Emmanuel Plan

 5. In a class of 15 boys and 19 girls, a team of five is be formed. How many ways can this be done if:
(a) 2 are boys and 3 are girls?
(b) at least 3 are girls?
(c) there is at least one male and at least one female?

6. How many ways are there to select 5 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards such that:
a. they are of the same suit?
b. there is exactly one pair?
c. They form a full house: a trio and a pair?

7. How many lines are determined by 12 points in a plane, no three of which are collinear? (AHSME
1952) (That is, how many lines are formed if all possible lines through two of the points are drawn?)

8. How many odd positive integers are factors of 480? (Mathcounts 1989)

9. Compute the number of ways three distinct numbers can be chosen from the set 𝑆 = {1,2, … ,34} such
that the sum of the three numbers is divisible by 3.

10. A non-negative solution to the equation 𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 + 𝑑 = 10 is an ordered quadruple (𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑) with

𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑 ≥ 0 which satisfies the equation. How many non-negative integer solutions are there to 𝑎 +
𝑏 + 𝑐 + 𝑑 = 10?

Combinatorial Proving and Pascal’s triangle

Below is Pascal’s triangle. You have two rows of 1, one going to the left and the other going to the right. Each
number aside from those appearing in these two rows is the sum of the two numbers above it. Can you form the
next line?

We can actually see combinations in the Pascal’s triangle. To see this, evaluate the following:
𝐶(4,0), 𝐶(4,1), 𝐶(4,2), 𝐶(4,3), 𝐶(4,4). What do you notice?

Now, it is time to see and prove some combinatorial identities not by expanding them, but counting the same thing
in two different ways. The identities in problems 1-4 can be seen in the Pascal’s triangle. Can you find them?

𝑛 𝑛
1. Prove that ( ) = ( ).
𝑘 𝑛−𝑘
𝑛 𝑛−1 𝑛−1
2. Prove that ( ) = ( )+ ( ).
𝑘 𝑘−1 𝑘
𝑛 𝑛−1 𝑛−2 𝑛 − (𝑛 − (𝑘 − 1))
3. Prove that ( ) = ( )+( ) + ⋯+ ( )
𝑘 𝑘−1 𝑘−1 𝑘−1
𝑛 𝑛 𝑛
4. Prove that ( ) + ( ) + ⋯ + ( ) = 2𝑛 .
0 1 𝑛

For the exercises below, prove using a combinatorial argument.

𝑛−1 𝑛
5. Prove that 𝑛 ( ) = 𝑘 ( ).
𝑘−1 𝑘

6. Prove that 1 ∙ (𝑛1) + 2 ∙ (𝑛2) + ⋯ + 𝑛 ∙ (𝑛𝑛) = 𝑛2𝑛−1

AMEP SC - Grade 7 Prepared by Emmanuel Plan