Bob the Blob

… and the very creative painter

There once was a blob of paint named Bob. He had dried up on the painter’s wooden workbench
long long ago and spent his days watching the painter create his masterpieces.

Bob
On this particular day, the painter was deciding what to paint and with what colours. He decided
that he would put all his colours on the workbench and pick out his 2 “colours of the day”. Bob
watched the painter as he placed 4 tubes of paint on his workbench: red, yellow, black ,and
white. The painter then pulled out 2 coins and said “I will flip 2 coins. If the first coin comes up
as heads, my first colour will be red. If the first coin comes up as tails, then my first colour will be
black. Now for the second coin; if it comes up as heads my second colour will be yellow, but if it is
tails then my second colour has to be white. The two coins being tossed is an example of
independent events because the outcome of one coin flip does not affect the outcome of the
other. The opposite of independent events is dependent events which is when the outcome of
one event affects the outcome of the other.

Coin 1 Coin 2

Heads= red Heads= yellow

Tails= black Tails= white

Bob really loves the colours red and white and hopes that the outcome of the coin flips allows
for the painter to use these two colours. If the probability of the first coin flipping heads (red)
is ½ and the probability of the second coin flipping tails (white) is also ½ , what is the
theoretical probability that the painter will end up using both red and white as his 2 “colours
of the day”?

There is a ¼
chance of the
painter picking
my two favourite
colours!!!

P(A and B) = P(A)xP(B)

= (1/2)x(1/2)
=¼
 Knowing the theoretical probability is not a 100% accurate indicator of what will happen. The
experimental probability is the probability that is determined on the basis of trials of an experiment. In
this specific case, experimental probability would be determined by attempting to flip the two coins
multiple times and recording the results. After doing so, and analyzing the data collected, one can
establish the experimental probability of each outcome. Choosing colours didn’t require a long
experiment like this, so after flipping the two coins, the painter already knew which colours to use. He
flipped the first coin heads and the second coin tails! Just how Bob wanted!

Yippie! My
favourite
colours!
Now the painter must choose what he will paint with these two colours. He can choose to paint anything as
long as it has a background, a main focus, an interesting detail,and a border Here are his options:

RED DOG, WHITE DOG, WHITE HOUSE, RED

ALIEN, RED BEETLE as main focus

WHITE or RED background

WHITE STARS or
RED STARS as
interesting detail

WHITE or RED border

 The painter can only choose one choice from each category. The only rule he must follow is that the colour of
the background must be a different colour than the main focus The possible choices are called outcomes, and
there are 20. The collection of all possible choices is called the sample space:
Red border
Red stars white border
Red border
Red dog White stars
white border
Red border
Red stars
Red alien white border
White
background White stars Red border Side note: If the painter
white border only took into
Red beetle consideration the events
Red stars Red border
white border where he paints a white
Red border background, then he is
White stars
white border only considering a subset
(aka a small grouping) of
Red border
White dog Red stars the data.
white border
Red
background Red border
White stars
white border
White house Red border
Red stars
white border
White stars Red border
white border
Bob really wants the painter to paint a red alien with stars on a white background with a white
border
The painter chooses a white background. This means that he can now only choose from red alien, red dog, and red beetle as his
main focus, because the background and main focus are non-mutually exclusive events. This means that the outcome of one
event (background) affects the outcome of the other (main focus). Another way to call a situation where one event is dependent
on the outcome of the other is conditional probability. On the other hand, the interesting detail and border are mutually
exclusive to the background because the outcome of one does not affect the outcome of the other, and the painter can
therefore choose from any of the choices for interesting detail and border.
He decided to paint a red dog with white stars and a red border
on the white background.
Now that the painter had finished his masterpiece, it was time for him to have some lunch. He
has 3 options for foods and 4 options for drink. According to the fundamental counting principal,
if there are (a) options for event 1 and (b) options for event 2, the number of ways they can both
be done/both happen is (a) x (b).
Therefore, the painter has 12 different options (3x4) for his lunch meal.

12
Another example of a counting principal is the additive counting principle. The additive counting principle states that, if one
mutually exclusive action can occur in m ways, a second in n ways, and a third in p ways, and so on, then there are m+n+p… ways
in which one of these actions can occur
After his meal, the painter decides he wants to hang his paintings on the wall but he
doesn’t really care what the order of the paintings is on his wall. He will just randomly
choose 8 of them and let his brother arrange them however he wants. To find the
number of combinations of paintings where order doesn’t matter, he needs to use the
combination equation.

nCr = n!/(n-r)!r! (the answer is 6435, therefore the painter must choose one of 6435 combinations of paintings)
The painter changes his mind, and he decides he wants to know how many different
arrangements of 8 out of his 15 painting he can make. To find this, he uses the formula for
permutation (an arrangement of objects or people where the order matters). The formula is as
follows: nPr = n!/(n-r)! (the total number of “r” objects out of a set of “n”)

P 15!
_______
15!
_______
15x14x13x12x11x10x9x8x7!
_________________________
15 8 (15-8)! 7! 7!

15x14x13x12x11x10x9x8

259459200 (different ways to

arrange 8 of the 15 paintings on
the wall)
Because the painter is very picky he decides that he only wants to use his 8 oldest paintings
and that his first 2 paintings CANNOT be hung next to each other. Using the indirect method
(
this is calculated by subtracting the events where the 2 paintings ARE together from the total
number of ways they can be arranged . (instead of taking the long way)

I’m very
picky
P
Total= 8 8 (because he is only arranging 8 out of 8 instead of 8 out of 15)
= 8!

Number of ways 2 oldest paintings can be hung together= 7!2!

Indirect method to find the answer the painter wants:

total - #of ways hung together = 8! – 7!2!

= 30240
Finally, after a hard day at his painting cabin, the painter must go home. His cabin is 5 blocks West
and 3 blocks South away from home. How many different routes can he possibly take to get home?
This problem can be solved using Pathfinders which are a form of Pascal’s Triangle (where every
number is the sum of the two previous ones)

home
There's a simple way
to find the answer to
this. Using nCr
(pascal’s formula)
n= 5x3
r= 5 or 3

Therefore, the total

number of ways the
painter can get
home is 15C5 or
15C3 which is equal
to 56 ways.

cabin
Bob smiled at the new wall of paintings and sat in
the darkness, waiting for tomorrow to come, and
to see the painter, once again, create a new
masterpiece.
The End