PERMUTATION AND COMBINATION

BHSEC – 2020 (No question)

BHSEC – 2019

1. Find ‘n’ if 4
P2 = n.4 C 2 .
Solution:
4
P2 = n.4 C2
4! 4!
 = n.
( 4 − 2 )! ( 4 − 2 )! 2!
n
1= n=2
2

2. In how many ways can a group of 4 members be selected from 5 boys and 5 girls
including at least 2 girls?
Solution:
Possible Case
Girls Boys Selection
2 2 5
C2 5 C2 = 100
3 1 5
C3 5 C1 = 50
4 0 5
C4 5 C0 = 5

Hence, required no. of ways = 100 + 50 + 5 = 155 ways

BHSEC – 2018
1. A school wants to raise fund to help the needy students by selling lottery. A
lottery ticket should be of 5-digit number. How many tickets can be produced
when the repetition of digits is allowed?
Solution:
Number of permutations = 9 10 10 10 10 = 90,000

2. You are given 5 vowels and 10 consonants to form different words. How many
different words, each containing 3 vowels and 4 consonants can be formed?
Solution:
Selecting 3 vowel and 4 consonants = 5 C3 10 C4 = 2100
Now, each group of 3 vowels and 4 consonants can be arranged in 7! Ways.
Hence, total no. of words that can be formed=2100 x 7! =10584000.

BHSEC – 2017
1. A democracy club of 10 members is to be selected amongst 9 boys and 6 girls. In
how many ways can the club in charge do the selection so as to include at least 4
girls?
Solution:
Possible Case
Girls Boys Selection
4 6 6
C4 9 C6 = 1260
5 5 6
C5 9 C5 = 756
6 4 6
C6 9 C4 = 126

Hence, required no. of ways = 1260 + 756 + 126 = 2142 ways

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 2. G20 conference is to be held among prime ministers of 20 countries. In how
many ways can they be seated in a round table if 3 particular prime ministers
are:
a) always together
b) never together
Solution:
The total arrangement of 20 prime ministers in a round table = (20 − 1) = 19!
a) Arrangement when 3 particular ministers are always together
= (18 − 1)! 3!= 17! 3! ways
b) Arrangement when 3 particular ministers are never together = 19!− (17! 3!) ways

BHSEC – 2016

1. Bhutan telecom Ltd is planning to form a 6- digit telephone number in Thimphu

area. How many 6- digits telephone numbers that can be formed with the digits
0, 1, 2…9, if each number starts with 32 and no digits appear more than once?
Solution:
The required no. of ways 3 2
= 1P1  1P1  8 P1  7 P1  6 P1  5 P1 = 1680 ways 1
P1 1
P1 8
P6
OR The first two places are fixed for 3 and 2, so
= 8 P4 = 1680 ways remaining 4 places are to be filled by other 8
numbers without repetition.

2. If 10
Cr +1 = 10
C2r , find the value of 7
Cr .
Solution:
10
Cr +1 = 10C2 r
 10 = r + 1 + 2r
 3r = 9  r = 3
7
Cr = 7C3 = 35

3. How many diagonals are in a polygon of 12 sides?

Solution:
The number of diagonals = 12C2 − 12 = 54

BHSEC – 2015
1. Bhutan Telecom generates 8-digit mobile number by using the digits 0, 1, 2, 3
….9. If each number starts with 17 and no digits appears more than once, then,
total mobile number generated will be
The required no. of ways = 8 P1  7 P1  6 P1  5 P1  4 P1  3P1 = 20160 ways
OR
= P6 = 20160 ways
8

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 2. A committee of 3 is to be selected from amongst 3 boys and 5 girls. How many
ways can this be done by including
a. Exactly one girl?
b. At least one girl?

Solution:
a. The number of ways of selecting exactly one girl = 5C1  3C2 = 15 ways.

b. Possible Case

Girls Boys Selection

1 2 5
C1 3 C2 = 15
2 1 5
C2 3 C1 = 30
3 0 5
C3 3 C0 = 10

Hence, required no. of ways = 15 + 30 + 10 = 45 ways.

BHSEC-2014
1. How many 6-digit numbers can be formed by taking the digits 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, and 9
when digits are not repeated?
Solution:
The total number of ways = 5 P1  5 P1  4 P1  3P1  2 P1  1P1 = 600 ways

2. Out of 15 computers in a computer lab, 5 are defective. In how many ways can
the five computers be selected? How many of these selections will include at least
one defective computers?
Solution:
The total ways of selecting five computers = 15C5 = 3003 ways

Possible Case

Defective Non-defective Selection

1 4 5
C1 10 C4 = 1050
2 3 5
C2 10 C3 = 1200
3 2 5
C3 10 C2 = 450
4 1 5
C4 10 C1 = 50
5 0 5
C5 10 C0 = 1

Hence, required no. of ways of selecting at least one defective computer = 2751 ways.

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 More Questions
1. 10 Students from a class are going to go for a field trip. In how many ways can
they accommodate themselves in two vehicles if each vehicle must have at least 4
students?
Solution:
Case I: 4 in 1st car and 6 in 2nd car  10C4  6C6 = 210 ways
Case II: 5in 1st car and 5 in 2nd car  10C5  5C5 = 252 ways
Case III: 6in 1st car and 4 in 2nd car  10C6  4C4 = 210 ways
 the required number of ways = 210 + 252 + 210 = 672 ways

2. A school is organizing an essay, poem writing and a letter writing competitions. 8

students are participating in the competition. A student is allowed to participate
in any of the competitions. In how many ways can 3 prizes be awarded, when
a. no student gets more than one prize;
b. no students gets all the prizes.
Solution:
a. no student gets more than one prize = 8  7  6 = 336 ways
b. no students gets all the prizes = 83 − 8 = 504 ways

3. At an election, a voter may vote any number of candidates, not greater than the
number to be elected. There are 10 candidates and 4 are to be selected. If a voter
votes for at least one candidate, then find the number of ways in which he can
vote.
Solution:
The number of ways in which a voter can vote = 10C1 + 10C2 + 10C3 + 10C4 = 385 ways

4. If the letters of the word SACHIN are arranged in all possible ways and these
words are written out as in dictionary, then SACHIN appears in serial number
Solution:
Numbering the letter of the word S A C H I N according to alphabetical order.
6 1 2 3 4 5

S A C H I N
5 0 0 0 0 0 → The number smaller than each letter towards right from 1st letter
Now,
5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0! → Naming each from 0! from righ most to left in sequence.
 5  5!+ 0  4!+ 0  3!+ 0  2!+ 0 1!+ 0  0! = 600 Multiplying each con sec utive term and adding it.
600 here is a words that s tan ds before SACHIN in dictionary.
Hence, SACHIN appears in dictionary at serial number = 600 + 1 = 601 ways

5. In an examination there are three multiple choice questions and each question
has 4 choices. Find the number of ways in which a student can fail to get all
correct answer.
Solution:
The required number ways = 43 − 1 = 63 ways.

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 6. There are 10 lamps in a hall. Each one of them can be switched on
independently. Find the number of ways in which the hall can be illuminated?
Solution:
The required number ways = 210 − 1 = 1023 ways.
Note : * For each lamp there are two choice ON / OFF . So, total ways = 210 ways
* There is only 1 way in which lamps are off .

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