Year 8: Combinatorics

Dr J Frost (jfrost@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk)
www.drfrostmaths.com

Last modified: 29th December 2015

PART 1 :: Systematic Counting
Sometimes the easiest way to count things is to explicitly list out every possibility!
The key is listing the possibilities in some systematic way that avoids missing out cases
or duplicates.

Starter
 [JMC 2005 Q17] The figure shows rectangle
and line , which divides the rectangle into two
squares. How many right-angled triangles can
be drawn using any three of the points as
corners?
Hint: Perhaps consider each possible shape of
triangle and how many there are of each?

 × 8  ×?4  × 2
14 possibilities. By breaking the problem down into types of triangle, it
made it much easier for us to count without missing out any
possibilities. It also prevented us having to draw out similar cases.
Further Example
A frog has 6 lily pads in front of him in a line. He can either hop (H) to the next lily
pad, or skip one and go to the next (S).
List out (using sequences of S and H) all the ways for the frog to get to the final
lily pad. e.g. HSSH.

Easiest when we break down into different numbers of skips:

0 skips: HHHHHH (1 way)
1 skip: SHHHH, HSHHH, HHSHH, HHHSH, HHHHS (5 ways)
2 skips: SSHH, SHSH, SHHS, HSSH, HSHS, HHSS (6 ways)
3 skips: SSS (1 way) To ensure I got all the possibilities here, I gradually moved
?
the second S right one, before moving the left S right and
repeating:
13 ways. SSHH HSSH HHSS
SHSH HSHS
SHHS

In summary, break the problem down into smaller problems where it’s easy to
count within each one, e.g. types of triangles, team sizes, number of skips, etc.
 Exercise 1 Exercises on provided sheet.

1 At a restaurant, there is a choice of Avocado 4 [SMC 2001 Q3] The diagram shows
(A), Beans (B) or Cauliflower (C) for starter, and a regular hexagon divided up into
a choice of Dog (D), Escalopes (E) and Frog Legs six equilateral triangles. How many
(F) for main course. List out all the nine quadrilaterals are there in the
possible combinations of starter and main diagram?
course (e.g. ‘BF’). A 6 B 8 C 10
D 12 E 14
? BE, BF, CD, CE, CF.
Solution: AD, AE, AF, BD, Solution: D
?
2 [JMC 2006 Q4] How many triangles of any size
are there in this diagram?
A 8 B 10 C 12
D 14 E 16 5 [JMC 2006 Q17] In how many
different ways can a row of five
? C
Solution: “on/off” switches be set so that no
two adjacent switches are in the
3 [JMC 2013 Q12] How many hexagons are there “off” position?
in the diagram? A 5 B 10 C 11
A 4 B 6 C 8 D 13 E 15
D 10 E 12 Solution: D
?
?E
Solution:
Exercise 1 Exercises on provided sheet.

6 [Kangaroo Pink 2005 Q8] In the diagram 9  [TMC Final 2012 Q6] Find the
there are 7 squares. What is the difference number of squares formed by the
between the number of triangles and the lines of this 5 by 7 rectangular grid of
number of squares in the diagram? squares.
A 0B 1C 2
D 3E 4
Solution: D
?
7 [JMO 2011 A6] The diagram shows a grid
of 16 identical equilateral triangles. How ? 85
Solution:
many different rhombuses are there made
up of two adjacent small triangles? 10 [JMO 1997 A8] Given a cube, each
selection of three vertices , ,
produces a triangle. How many of
? 18
Solution:
these triangles are right-angled
triangles? (Triangles may only be on
8 [TMC Regional 2008 Q3] In total how the faces of the cube)
Solution: 24
many triangles of any size are there in the ?
diagram?
Solution: 35
?
Exercise 1
11 Each hour a pirate ship can either sail
1km West (W), 1km East (E), 1km
North (N) or 1km South (S). It must
always be moving. List all the ways in
which the ship can end up 2km North
after 4 hours (e.g. ‘NNWE’) and count
the number of possible journeys.
(Hint: it may help to break the
problem down possible sets of four
movements, e.g. a N, N, W and E, and
then considering the possible
orderings of each possible set).
Solution: NNWE, NNEW, NWNE,
NENW, NWEN, NEWN, WNNE, ENNW,
WNEN, ENWN, WENN,? EWNN,
SNNN, NSNN, NNSN, NNNS (16 ways).
Exercises on provided sheet.
12 [TMC Regional 2014 Q4] Every day Keith
has a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.
The options for each meal are:
One day Keith eats four items. In how
many different ways can he do this?
Solution: 12
?
13 [JMO 2004 A10] The Famous Five have
been given 20 sweets as a reward for
solving a tricky crime. They have agreed
that the oldest of them must receive
more than the next oldest, who must
receive more than the next oldest, and
so on. Assuming that each of the five
gets at least one sweet, in how many
different ways can they share the
sweets?
Solution:
? 7
Exercise 1
14 [Cayley 2007 Q4] How many right-angled
triangles can be made by joining three
vertices of a cube? (This time triangles
formed may also go inside the cube)
Solution: 48 (In a previous question we
found 24 triangles on the faces. A further
24 triangles can be formed, 2 for each
face diagonal where?the triangle will
pass inside the cube, e.g:).
There are 5 people in a room. How many
14
ways are there of forming two teams of
people, where each team must have at
least one person.
Solution: 15 teams. (5 teams where the
teams are split 1 and?5. 10 teams where
the teams are split 2 and 3)
Exercises on provided sheet.
15  [IMC 2009 Q22] A square is divided
into eight congruent triangles, as
shown. Two of these triangles are
selected at random and shaded black.
What is the probability that the
resulting figure has at least one axis of
symmetry?
A B C
D E 1
Solution: D
?
PART 2 :: Counting by Multiplying
Starter: Suppose the alphabet was limited to just A, B, C, D. Fold your provided piece
of paper into 16 parts. Put ‘A’ 4 times, ‘B’ 4 times, ‘C’ 4 times and ‘D’ 4 times, before
cutting. Use these cards (or otherwise) to answer the following questions:
Note: a ‘word’ is any possible sequence of characters; it need not be in a dictionary.

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3

The number of possible
2 letter ‘words’ where
the letters are different.
 4 possibilities for first
letter, 3 for ?
the second.
Question 4
The number of 4 letters
words using each of the
letters A, B, C, D exactly
once.
 𝟒 × 𝟑× 𝟐?×𝟏=𝟐𝟒
The number of possible 2
letter ‘words’ where the
letters are unrestricted.
 4 possibilities for first
? second.
letter, 4 for the
Question N
The number of 5 letter
words using the letters
AABCD, each exactly once.
 𝟓 × 𝟒 × 𝟑 × 𝟐
𝟐 ? =𝟔𝟎
The number of possible 3
letter ‘words’ where each
letter cannot be the same
as the previous letter, but
is otherwise unrestricted.
 𝟒 × 𝟑×? 𝟑= 𝟑𝟔
Question NN
The number of 10 letter
words using the letters
AAAAAABBCD each once.
  𝟏𝟎 !
𝟔! 𝟐! ?
=𝟐𝟓𝟐𝟎
Multiplying and Factorial Function
If the number of choices for each ‘thing’ are independent of each other, then we can
multiply them together to get the total number of combinations.

 
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
For a full alphabet of 26 letters:

a) How many possible 3 letter ‘words’ are there?

There are 26 choices for each letter. ?
b) How many possible 3 letter ‘words’ are there, where all letters are different?
Each time there is one less choice. ?
c) How many possible ways are there of arranging the letters of the word MATHS?
There are 5 choices for the first letter, then 4 for the next, and so on.
?

!  is said “5 factorial”.
means the number of ways of arranging distinct objects
in a line.
Examples

Q  I throw 4 dice. How many possible outcomes are there?

?
Q  I throw 10 coins. How many possible outcomes are there?
?
Q I  have a 10 kittens. I pick up 4 kittens and put them in a
line. How many possibilities are there?

Note that the ordering of kittens in the line matters in

?
this scenario (the number of possibilities would be less if
we only cared about what kittens were selected)
A Few More Examples

Q  I have 6 different coloured balls in a line. How many ways of arranging them?

?
Q   boys and 4 girls go to a cinema. How many ways of arranging them such that
3
the boys all come before the girls?
?
Q  
How many ways of arranging the letters in the word BANANA?
If the letters were all different there would be ways.
However, for example would count as the same as because the N’s aren’t
distinguishable. So we need to divide by 2 to avoid duplicates. Similarly there
are ways the A’s could have been arranged ? which would lead to the same
possibility. Thus:
Test Your Understanding
1 A pack of cards contains 52 cards, 13 of each of four suits (Hearts, Spades, Clubs,
Diamonds). In each suit we have the cards: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack,
Queen, King.
Determine the number of possibilities when:
a  I deal out 3 cards and put them in a line: ?
b I deal out Ace, 2, 3 and 4 of Diamonds, them arrange them in a line.
?
c I put 6 cards in a line, the first three Jack, Queen and King of Clubs, and the
second three Jack, Queen and King of Spades.
?
d I deal out all the spades them arrange them in a line.
?
e I deal out all the cards and put them all together, but ensure the cards in
each suit are kept together.
There are ways or arranging the clubs, ways of arranging the spades, etc.
But there’s also 4! ways of arranging?the four blocks of cards.

2  
How many ways of arranging the letters of:
a PLUM ?
b APPLE ?
c RASPBERRY ?
 Exercise 2 Exercises on provided sheet.

1  A queue in the post office consists of a cat, a dog 4  How many ways are there of arranging the
and a llama. How many possible orderings are letters in the words:
there of animals in the line? a. SMURF ?
Solution:
? b. BOTTLE ?
c. CABBAGE ?
2 A bag contains 8 different coloured balls. I pick 4 of d. TITILLATION ?
them and put them in a line. How many ways are
5 [TMC Regional 2009 Q1] A tile is fixed to a wall
there of doing this? and then painted with four different colours,
Solution:
? one for each quarter. One way of doing this is

3 I have cards with the number 1, 2, 3, 4 on them. I

have a plentiful supply of each. How many ways
are there of:
In how many other ways may the tile be
a. Putting four numbers in a line where all
numbers must be different. ?
painted?
?
b. Putting four numbers in a line where we are
6 [JMO 1999 A5] UKMT, TMUK and KTUM are all
unrestricted in choices of numbers. ? different arrangements of the letters U, K, M
c. Putting four numbers in a line where each
and T. If the number of all the different
number must not be the same as the one
arrangements of these four letters is and the
immediately before. ? number of all the different arrangements of the
d. Forming a four digit number starting with 3.
letters and is , what is the value of ?
? Solution:
?
Exercise 2
7  [JMC 2013 Q25] For Beatrix’s latest art installation,
she has fixed a square sheet of steel to a wall. She
has two magnetic tiles, both which she attaches to
the steel sheet, in any orientation, so that none of
the sheet is visible and the line separating the two
tiles cannot be seen. As shown alongside, one tile
has one black cell and one grey cell; the other tile
has one black cell and one spotted cell.
How many different looking installations can Beatrix
obtain?
A 4 B 8 C 12
D 14 E 24
Solution: C
The dotted tile can go in 4 positions. This leaves 3
positions for the grey tile. The rest are filled with
?
black (with no choice involved).
Exercises on provided sheet.
8  [TMC Regional 2013 Q8] Claire,
David, Jean and Richard are queuing
for the bus. In how many different
ways can they line up in single file,
one behind the other, without Jean
being last?
?
Solution: Starting from the back
[Kangaroo Pink 2015 Q18] Petra has
9 three different dictionaries and two
different novels on a shelf. How
many ways are there to arrange the
books if she wants to keep the
dictionaries together and the novels
together?
A 12 B 24C 30
D 60 E 120
Solution: B (Can either have books-
novels or novels-book, giving 2 lots
of ) ?
Exercise 2
10  [IMC 2015 Q20] A voucher code is made 11
up of four characters. The first is a letter:
V, X or P. The second and third are
different digits. The fourth is the units
digit of the sum of the second and third
digits. How many different voucher codes
like this are there?
A 180 B 243 C 270
D 300 E 2700
Solution: C. 3 choices for first character.
10 choices for second character and 9 for
third (since a different digit). There is no
element of choice for the fourth
?
character as it is determined by the
second and third.
Exercises on provided sheet.
 [IMC 2008 Q23] Beatrix has a 24-hour
digital clock on a glass table-top next
to her desk. When she looked at the
clock at 13:08, she noticed that the
reflected display also read 13:08, as
shown. How many times in a 24-hour
period do the display and its reflection
give the same time?
A 12 B 36 C 48
D 72 E 96
Solution: E. First note that 0, 1, 3 and
8 reflect. ?
Exercise 2 Exercises on provided sheet.

12  [Kangaroo Grey 2006 Q16/Pink 2006 Q19] A train consists of five

carriages: I, II, III, IV and V. In how many ways can the carriages be
arranged so that carriage I is nearer to the locomotive than carriage II is?
A 120 B 60 C 48
D 30 E 10

Solution: B
Long way:
I is in 1st position: ways of arranging remaining carriages.
I is in 2nd position: ways
I is in 3rd position: ways ?
I is in 4th position: ways
ways
Really Short way: In half of the ways of arranging the five carriages, I
will appear before II.
The ‘Choose’ Function

𝐵  1 𝐵  2 𝐵  3 𝐵  4 𝐵  5
How many ways are there of selecting 2 balls from the 5?
(such that the order of the balls in my selection does not matter)

 There are 5 balls for our first choice.

There are then 4 balls to choose from.
This initially gives 20 possibilities. ?
However, for example would represent the same choice as .
We therefore have to divide by 2 to avoid duplicates.
There are 10 possible selections.

  (often written ), said “ choose ”, is the number of ways of ‘choosing’ items

from without duplicates, such that order does not matter.
Practise using the formula (and your calculator)

  9 9!   10 10 !
( )3
=
3!6!? =84 ( ) 1
= ? =10
1! 9 !

 
Broculator Tip: Use the
button on your calculator What would we expect this to
(SHIFT ) to calculate be? (The number of ways of
directly. choosing 1 item from 10)

  4 4!
( )
0
= ? =1
0! 1!
 
Note that ‘no selection’
is itself a choice!
What would we expect this to Bro Side Note: The
be? (The number of ways of choose formula only
choosing 0 items from 4) works if
Examples
Q In the UK National Lottery, you pick 6 numbers out of 59.
How many possible lottery tickets are there?

  𝟓𝟗 = 𝟒𝟓?𝟎𝟓𝟕 𝟒𝟕𝟒
( 𝟔 )
Q Bob the Teacher needs to form a maths team for a competition.
He needs 3 boys and 3 girls for the team. He has 10 boys and 10
girls to choose from. How many possible teams are there?

  𝟏𝟎 × 𝟏𝟎 =𝟏𝟒 𝟒𝟎𝟎
( ) ( )
𝟑 𝟑?
Test Your Understanding
A Bob the Football Manager needs to select 11 players from his
squad of 15 players. How many possible selections are there?
𝟏𝟓
 
( 𝟏𝟏 )=𝟏𝟑𝟔𝟓
?

B I have a bowl of 5 pieces of fruit, containing an orange, apple, banana, grapefruit and
kiwi. I also have in my cupboard 4 chocolate bars: a Kit Kat, Snickers, Mars Bar and Twix.
If I want two pieces of fruit and two chocolate bars for my lunch, how many possible
selections are there?
𝟓 𝟒
 
( ) ( ?) =𝟔𝟎
𝟐
×
𝟐

N In this grid of 16 squares, I choose 4 to colour red followed by 4 to

colour yellow. Determine the number of possible colourings.

  𝟏𝟔 × 𝟏 𝟐 =𝟗𝟎𝟎𝟗𝟎𝟎
( ) ( )
𝟒 𝟒 ?
Exercise 3 Exercises on provided sheet.

1 I  am building a car park and need to choose 2  

5 Alice is asked to think of 3 different
of the 20 spaces to be disabled parking spaces. numbers between 1 and 8, and Bob
How many ways are there of doing this? is asked to do the same. How many
Solution: 190 total possible combinations are
? there for Alice and Bob’s selection
In a lottery I can choose 4 distinct numbers combined?
2
between 1 and 20. How many possible lottery Solution:
tickets are there? Solution:?4845 ?
6 As part of winning a car, I have to
3 Of 9 balls in a line, 5 need to be painted red choose 4 numbers between 1 and
(and those not chosen will be painted blue). 15 and throw three dice. How many
How many ways are there of doing this? total possible outcomes are there?
Solution: 126 Solution:
? ?
4 Of 9 balls in a line, 4 need to be painted blue I choose 4 distinct numbers between
(and those not chosen will be painted red). 7
1 and 8. How many possibilities are
a. How many ways are there of doing
there where the numbers in my
this? Solution: ? 126 selection add to give an even
b. Hence, what other ‘choose’ will have
number?
the same value as ? Sln:
? ? half of them. 35
Solution: It will be
Exercise 3
 Use your calculator to write on a row
8 9
in your book. On the next row write
and . On the next row write and .
Continue this pattern for a few more
rows, where the top number
increases by 1 for each row, and the
bottom number varies between 0
and the top number.
a. What do you notice about
the numbers you get in your
structure?
You get Pascal’s Triangle!
b. Add up the numbers in each
row (your first two totals
? 2). What do
should be 1 and
you notice?
You get powers of 2!
?
Exercises on provided sheet.
 A beaver travels from the bottom-left hand
corner to the top-right corner of a grid,
each time only making up or right
movements. One possible paths is as
pictured.
a. How many possible paths are
there?
Solution: Of the 8 moves 4 need to
be right moves. ?
(Hint: write a few possible paths as a
sequence of arrows, e.g. . What’s always
the same about such valid sequences of
moves?)
b. If the beaver is travelling across a
grid, write an expression for the
total number of paths in terms of .
Solution:
? Finish
Start
Exercise 3 Exercises on provided sheet.

N  I choose 5 numbers between 1 and 20. How many choices are

there such that the range of the numbers in my selection is 6?
Solution: Suppose the smallest number was 1 and the largest 7.
Then the remaining three numbers can be chosen between 2
and 6, giving possibilities.
We’ll have the same number of ?possibilities where the smallest
and largest numbers are 2 and 8, and so on, up to 14 and 20.
That’s possibilities.
Levelled Activity
(Teacher Note:
See printout)
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Instructions: You may work in pairs. Start on the Level 1 problems
provided, recording your answer on this sheet. Answers to Level 1
questions are at the front of the class. Once you’ve checked your
answers, go to your teacher and ask for Level 2.

You will need to ask the teacher to check your answers to Level 2 and
beyond.

Solutions are on the next slides.

Level 1 Solutions
 
1 How many possible 3 letters ‘words’ are there  
5 How many ways can I arrange 6
using letters from the English alphabet. books on a shelf?
Solution: ? Solution: ?

6 How many ways can you arrange the

2 I take 4 items from 7 and put them in a line. letters of the word CATTLE?
How many possibilities are there?
Solution: ?
Solution: ?
[JMC 2000 Q11] The digits of this
3 From 9 people I choose 4 people to form a 7
year, 2000 A.D., add up to 2. In how
team. How many possible teams are there? many other years since 1 A.D. has
Solution:
? this happened? Solution: 9
?
How many squares of any size are in this [JMC 2007 Q7] The equilateral
4 diagram? 8
triangle is fixed in position. Two of
Solution:
the four small triangles are to be
? painted black and the other two are
to be painted white. In how many
different ways can this be done?
Solution:
?
Level 2 Solutions
 
1 How many possible combinations of  
4 [TMC Regional 2012 Q9] In how
outcomes are there from the throw of many ways can you split your team
three dice and five coins? of 4 people into two separate teams,
Solution: ? so that there is at least one person
in each team?
2 [JMO 2006 A4] An equilateral triangle is Solution: 7?ways
drawn on a sheet of white card and
divided into three identical regions as
5 [Kangaroo Grey 2009 Q16] How
shown. Then each region is painted red many ten-digit numbers are there
or yellow or blue. More than one region which contain only the digits 1, 2 or
may be painted in the same colour. How 3, and in which any pair of adjacent
many different painted triangles can be digits differs by 1?
made in this way? (Rotating a triangle A 16 B 32 C 64
does not make it different.) D 80 E 100
Solution: 11
? Solution: C.
If the number starts with 2, the next is 1
or 3, the next is 2, and so on. When we
3 [JMO 2008 A4] How many three-digit ?
don’t have a 2 we have two choices, so .
numbers have the product of their digits But we could had 2 second, giving
equal to 6? another 32 possibilities.
Solution: 9?
Level 3 Solutions
1  [Cayley 2008 Q1] How many four-digit multiples 3 [SMC 2005 Q16] A hockey team
of 9 consist of four different odd digits? consists of 1 goalkeeper, 4
Solution: 24. Digits have to add up to multiple of
defenders, 4 midfielders and 2
?
9: only possibility for digits is 1359. There’s 4!
forwards. There are 4 substitutes: 1
ways of arranging these.
goalkeeper, 1 defender, 1
2 [IMC 2010 Q24] A new taxi firm needs a midfielders and 1 forward. A
memorable phone number. They want a number
substitute may only replace a player
which has a maximum of two different digits.
of the same category, e.g.
Their phone number must start with the digit 3
and be six digits long. How many such numbers midfielder for midfielders. Given
are possible? that a maximum of 3 substitutes
A 288 B 280 C 279 may be used and that there are still
D 226 E 225 11 players on the pitch at the end,
If other digit is different 0, then there are 2 how many different teams could
choices for each of the 5 other digits, giving finish the game?
possibilities. However, we want to exclude the
A 110 B 118 C 121
case where they’re all 3s (for the moment),
?
giving 31 possibilities There’s 9 numbers this
D 125 E 132
other digit could be giving . Then we count the
one possibility where all the digits are 3, giving Solution: ?
B
280.
Level 3 Solutions
4 [JMO 2004 A10] The Famous Five have been
given 20 sweets as a reward for solving a tricky
crime. They have agreed that the oldest of
them must receive more than the next oldest,
who must receive more than the next oldest,
and so on. Assuming that each of the five gets
at least one sweet, in how many different ways
can they share the sweets?
Solution: 7
? Solution: C. Suppose the girls are ABCDE.
5 [JMO 2002 B1] A number like 4679 is called an
ascending number because each digit in the
number is larger than the preceding one.
(i) How many ascending numbers are there
between 1000 and 2000?
(ii) How many ascending numbers are there
between 1000 and 10000?
Solution: 56?and 126
6  [Kangaroo Pink 2007 Q24] At a party, five
girls give each other gifts in such a way
that everybody gives one gift and
everybody receives one (though of course
nobody receives their own gift). How
many possible ways are there for this to
happen?
A 5 B 10C 44
D 50 E 120
Then to avoid giving themselves a
present, we either have to have a ‘cycle’
of 3 and 2 (e.g. ABC give each other
presents, and DE give each other one) or
a ‘cycle’ of 5. There are possible
?
groupings for 2-3 cycles, where for each
there’s only 2 possible giving of presents,
giving 20 possibilities. If the cycle is 5,
then there’s possibilities (as A had 4
people he can give his present to, then B
has 3, etc.)
Level 3 Solutions
7  [SMC 2001 Q21] A postman’s sack contains five letters, one each for the five houses
in Cayley Close. Mischievously, he posts one letter through each door without looking
to see if it is the correct address. In how many different ways could he do this so that
exactly two of the five houses receive the correct letters?
A 5 B 10 C 20 D 30 E 60
There are ways in which we could choose 2 houses to receive the correct letter.
Then of the remaining 3 houses, there are only 2 ways in which they could receive
the wrong letter (if the houses are ABC, then the letters could be BCA or CAB).
?
That gives ways.