Chapter 1: What is Combinatorics?

Section 1.1: The Three problems of combinatorics

1. Existence problem – is there at least one arrangement of a particular kind?

2. Counting problem – how many arrangements are there?
3. Optimization problem – which arrangement is the best according to some criteria?

Example 1.1 – Design of experiments

In table 1.1, an example of a design for a drug experiment is given: the effect five different drugs have on
human beings. Drugs are labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Each of the drugs will be given to five different subjects,
on five different days of the week. To avoid bias, the drugs will be administered to the five subjects on
different days of the week, but in a way that each subject will be administered each drug, but with no
subjects receiving the same drug on the same day. In doing this, a Latin square design (an n x n design) is
used to create the model. This design uses the numbers 1, 2, …, n as entries in such a way that no
number appears more than once in the same row or column. Likewise, it is required that each number
appears exactly once in each row and column. This describes the existence aspect of this problem.

Table 1.4 on page 3 illustrates this model for a 5 x 5 Latin square design

1 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5 1
3 4 5 1 2
4 5 1 2 3
5 1 2 3 4

Even though the Latin square to represent this problem is given above, it does not yet offer a solution.
The ordering effects must be taken into account. We should ideally have enough subjects so that each
possible ordering of the 5 drugs can be tested. The question to answer is, “How many such orderings are
there?” This becomes a counting problem. There are 5!, or 120 orderings, a concept which will be
discussed later.

Example 1.2 – Bit strings and binary codes

Bit (binary digit) – zero or one

Bit string – sequence of bits

Example: 0110 or 1011

Binary code (binary block code) – a collection of symbols that assigns a different bit string to
each of the symbols

Example: Morse code

Letters O: 111; A: 01; K: 101; C: 1010

 If we wish to encode each of the 26 letters of the alphabet using only one or two bits, we would
not be able to do so, since the only strings possible are 0, 1, 01, 10, 11, 00. We had to count the
number of possible arrangements of one or two bits in order to make this determination. If we
used one, two, or three bits in order to encode the 26 letters of the alphabet, we would still not
be able to do it. Thus, we must use strings of one, two, three, and four bits in order to encode
the alphabet. To find this number of strings, we use an idea called enumeration.

Example 1.3 – The best designs for a gas pipeline

The flow of natural gas through a pipe depends on several factors: the diameter of the pipe, the
length, the pressure within the pipe, temperature, and others. In order to solve this problem, an
optimization problem, we desire to construct such a design of piping that will optimize
production (usually costs, which would be a minimization, or a flow, which would be a
maximization).

An algorithm can be created to help with this process. Computers are able to make these
process much easier to calculate.

Example 1.4 – Scheduling meetings of legislative committees (or other types)

Many state legislative committees are required to meet on a regular basis. The scheduling
process requires legislators to meet, without having meetings where they would be booked for
two at the same time. This type of a problem is an existence problem. Table 1.5 and the
subsequent Figure 1.1 on page 6 help to envision this problem. If each committee chair
indicates a list of acceptable meeting times, then this example, known as a list-coloring problem,
can assign colors to aid in creating such a schedule.

Additionally, if each committee chair provides their preference for meeting days/times, then an
additional factor is being considered. Table 1.7 on page 9 gives all possible assignments of
meeting times.

Each of these combinatorics problems is used in various aspects of day-to-day activities.