Tutorial Sheet : 3

Course Code : BMAT205L

Course Title : Discrete Mathematics and Graph Theory

Module 3: Counting Techniques

Easy:

1. How many numbers are there between 99 and 1000, having at least one of their digits 7?

Solution: 252.

2. How many 5-digit telephone numbers can be constructed using the digits 0 to 9, if each number
starts with 67 and no digit appears more than once?

Solution: 336.

3. Find the number of permutations of the letters of the word ALLAHABAD.

Solution: 7560.

4. Find the solution of yn − 5 yn−1 + 6 yn−2 = 0 with the initial conditions y(0) = 1, y(1) = 4.

Solution: 2.3n − 2n .

5. Find the solution of yn − 10 yn−1 + 25 yn−2 = 0 with the initial conditions y(0) = 3, y(1) = 1.

Solution: 3.5n + 25 .n.2n .

6. Show that if 30 dictionaries in a library contain a total of 61,327 pages, then one of the dictio-
naries must have at least 2045 pages.

Solution: Hint: Use Pigeonhole Principle.

7. Find the number of integers between 1 and 250 both inclusive that are not divisible by any of
the integers 2, 3, 5 and 7.

Solution: Hint: Use the Inclusion-Exclusion Principle.

8. In a village, out of the total number of people, 80 percentage of the people own Coconut groves
and 65 percent of the people own Paddy fields. What is the minimum percentage of people own
both?
 Solution: By Applying Inclusion-Exclusion Principle, the minimum percentage of people
who own both Coconut groves and Paddy fields is 45%.

9. Suppose that a department contains 10 men and 15 women. How many ways are there to form
a committee with six members if it must have more women than men?

Solution: There are 151, 060 ways to form a committee of six members with more women
than men. Hint: Use the combination formula.

10. How many different strings can be formed together using the letters of the word “EQUATION”
so that (i) the vowels always come together? (ii) the vowels never come together?

Solution: (i) The number of different strings where the vowels always come together: 2880
(ii) The number of different strings where the vowels never come together: 37440

11. In a survey of 270 college students, it is found that 64 like brussels sprouts, 94 like broccoli,
58 like cauliflower, 26 like both brussels sprouts and broccoli, 28 like both brussels sprouts and
cauliflower, 22 like both broccoli and cauliflower, and 14 like all three vegetables. How many of
the 270 students do not like any of these vegetables?

Solution: Hint: Apply principle of inclusion-exclusion.

12. What is the minimum number of students, each of whom comes from one of the 50 states, who
must be enrolled in a university to guarantee that there are at least 100 who come from the
same state?

Solution: Hint: Use the Pigeonhole Principle.

13. There are 7 identical green marbles, 3 identical blue marbles, and 2 identical red marbles. In
how many different ways can these marbles be arranged if the first ball must be green and the
last ball must be red?

Solution: 840 different ways

14. How many positive integes not exceeding 1000 are divisible by 7 an 11?

Solution: 12 positive integers

15. In a certain game, the score of a player after n turns is twice the score after n − 1 turns plus 5
points. If the initial score (at n=0) is S 0 , find a recurrence relation for the score S n after n turns,
and find the explicit formula for the score after n turns.

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16. A professor writes 40 discrete mathematics true/false questions. Of the statements in these
questions, 17 are true. If the order matters here , how many different answer keys are possible?

17. How many bit strings of length 10 contain

a) exactly four 1s?

b) at most four 1s?
c) at least four 1s?
d) an equal number of 0s and 1s?

Solution:

a) 210

b) 386

c) 848

d) 252

Moderate:

18. In a small village, there are 87 families, of which 52 families have at most 2 children. In a
rural development programme, 20 families are to be chosen for assistance, of which at least 18
families must have at most 2 children. In how many ways can the choice be made?

19. (a) Assuming that repetitions are not permitted, how many four-digit numbers can be formed
form the six digits 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8?
(b) How many of these numbers are less than 4000?
(c) How many of the numbers in part (a) are even?
(d) How many of the numbers in part (a) are odd?
(e) How many of the numbers is part (a) are multiples of 5?
(f) How many of the numbers in part (a) contain both the digits 3 and 5?

Solution: Use Combinations

20. Solve the recurrence relations together with the initial conditions given. a n = a n−1 + 6a n−2 for
n ≥ 2, a 0 = 3, a 1 = 6

Solution: Use generating functions

21. Find a recurrence relation for the number of ternary strings of length n that do not contain two
consecutive 0s.

22. In how many ways can 7 people be arranged about a circular table? If two of them insist on
sitting next to each other, how many arrangements are possible?

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 Solution: 240 distinct arrangements

23. Solve these recurrence relations together with the initial conditions

a n+2 = −4a n+1 + 5a n

for n ≥ 0, a 0 = 2, a 1 = 8

24. Six people, A, B, C, D, E, and F, are seated around a circular table. How many unique seating
arrangements are possible, considering that rotations of the same arrangement are counted as
identical? If A, B, and C are females, and D, E, and F are males, how many arrangements can
be made where the seating alternates between males and females?

Solution: The number of distinct circular arrangements of 6 people is 120 and the number
of circular arrangements where the sexes alternate is 12.

25. There are 3 piles of identical red, blue and green balls, where each pile contains at least 10 balls.
In how many ways can 10 balls be selected:

(a) if there is no restriction?

(b) if at least one red ball must be selected?
(c) if at least one red ball, at least 2 blue balls and at least 3 green balls must be selected?
(d) if exactly one red ball must be selected?
(e) if exactly one red ball and at least one blue ball must be selected?

26. Use generating functions to solve the recurrence relation a k = 5a k−1 − 6a k−2 with initial condi-
tions a 0 = 6 and a 1 = 30.

27. How many bit strings of length eight either start with a 1 bit or end with the two bits 00?

Solution: 160

Hard:

28. a) How many solutions does the equation x1 + x2 + x3 = 11 have where x1 , x2 , x3 are positive
integers?
b) How many solutions does the equation x1 + x2 + x3 = 11 have where x1 ≥ 1, x2 ≥ 2, x3 ≥ 3?

Solution:

a) 78

b) 21

29. Solve a n − 2a n−1 = 2 n2 ; n ≥ 1; a 1 = 4.

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 Solution: a n = 13(2n ) − 2( n2 + 4 n + 6)

30. Use the method of generating function to solve the recurrence relation a n = 4a n−1 − 4a n−2 + 4n ;
n ≥ 2 given that a 0 = 2 and a 1 = 8.

Solution: a n = 4n+1 − 2n+1 ( n + 1)

31. Messages are transmitted over a communications channel using two signals. The transmittal of
one signal requires 1 microsecond, and the transmittal of the other signal requires 2 microsec-
onds.

a) Find a recurrence relation for the number of different messages consisting of sequences of
these two signals, where each signal in the message is immediately followed by the next
signal, that can be sent in n microseconds.
b) What are the initial conditions?
c) How many different messages can be sent in 10 microseconds using these two signals?

Solution:

c) 89

32. A new employee at an exciting new software company starts with a salary of $50, 000 and is
promised that at the end of each year her salary will be double her salary of the previous
year,with an extra increment of $10, 000 for each year she has been with the company.

a) Construct a recurrence relation for her salary for her n th year of employment.
b) Solve this recurrence relation to find her salary for her n th year of employment.

Solution:

b) a n = 70, 000(2n−1 ) − 10, 000( n + 1)

33. One hundred tickets, numbered 1,2,3,...,100, are sold to 100 different people for a drawing. Four
different prizes are awarded,including a grand prize.How many ways are there to award the
prizes if

a) there are no restrictions?

b) the person holding ticket 47 wins the grand prize?
c) the person holding ticket 47 wins one of the prizes?
d) the person holding ticket 47 does not win a prize?
e) the people holding tickets 19 and 47 both win prizes?
f) the people holding tickets 19, 47, and 73 all win prizes?
g) the people holding tickets 19, 47, 73, and 97 all win prizes?

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 h) none of the people holding tickets 19, 47, 73, and 97 wins a prize?
i) the grand prize winner is a person holding ticket 19, 47, 73, or 97?
j) the people holding tickets 19 and 47 win prizes, but the people holding tickets 73 and 97 do
not win prizes?

Solution:

a) 9,41,09,400

b) 9,41,094

c) 37,64,376

d) 9,03,45,024

e) 1,14,072

f) 2,328

g) 24

h) 7,97,27,040

i) 37,64,376

j) 1,09,440

34. A coin is flipped 10 times where each flip comes up either heads or tails. How many possible
outcomes

a) are there in total?

b) contain exactly two heads?

c) contain at most three tails?

d) contain the same number of heads and tails?

Solution:

a) 1024

b) 45

c) 176

d) 252

35. a) Show that if five integers are selected from the first eight positive integers, there must be
a pair of these integers with a sum equal to 9.
b) Is the conclusion in part (a) true if four integers are selected rather than five? Justify.

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 Solution:

a) Hint: Divide the integers into groups and use pigeonhole principle.

b) No

36. There are 38 different time periods during which classes at a university can be scheduled. If
there are 677 different classes, a minimum of how many different rooms will be needed?

Solution: 18

37. How many positive integers between 100 and 999 inclusive

a) are divisible by 7?
b) are odd?
c) have the same three decimal digits?
d) are not divisible by 4?
e) are divisible by 3 or 4?
f) are not divisible by either 3 or 4?
g) are divisible by 3 but not by 4?
h) are divisible by 3 and 4?

Solution:

a) 128

b) 450

c) 9

d) 675

e) 450

f) 450

g) 225

h) 75

38. At a dinner party 6 men and 6 women sit at a round table. In how many ways can they sit if:

a) there are no restrictions?

b) men and women alternate?
c) Ted and Carol must sit together?
d) Bob, Ted and Carol must sit together?
e) Neither Bob nor Carol can sit next to Ted?

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 Solution:

a) 39,916,800

b) 86,400

c) 72,57,600

d) 21,77,280

e) 2,61,27,360

39. Calculate the circular permutation of 6 people seated around a round table:

a) If the anticlockwise and clockwise orders are different.

b) If the anticlockwise and clockwise orders are the same.

Solution:

a) 120

b) 60

40. In how many ways 8 beads can be arranged to form a necklace?

Solution: 2520

41. In how many ways can 7 persons sit around a table so that all shall not have the same neigh-
bours in any two arrangements?

Solution: 360

42. A boy has 3 library tickets and 8 books of his interest in the library. Of these 8, he does not want
to borrow Mathematics Part II, unless Mathematics Part I is also borrowed. In how many ways
can he choose the three books to be borrowed?

Solution: 41

43. Three married couples are to be seated in a row having six seats in a cinema hall.

a) If spouses are to be seated next to each other, in how many ways can they be seated?
b) Find also the number of ways of their seating if all the ladies sit together.

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Solution:

a) 48

b) 144

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