Math 2320 Assignment 2 Solution

1. How many people are needed to guarantee that at least two were born
on the same day of the week and in the same month (perhaps in
different years)?
Solution:
There are seven days in a week and 12 months in a year. We need at
least (7 × 12 + 1) = 85 people to guarantee d 85
84 e = 2 were born on the
same day of the week and in the same month.
2. (a) Show that if seven integers are selected from the first 10 positive
integers, there must be at least two pairs of these integers with
the sum 11.
Solution:
We group {1, 2, . . . , 10} into five groups {1, 10}, {2, 9}, {3, 8},
{4, 7} and {5, 6}. Note the pairs in each group sum to 11.
By the pigeonhole principle (with the seven integers being the
objects and the five groups being the boxes), there are at least
two integers coming from the same group. These two integers
sum to 11.
Removing this pair of integers, there are five integers and four
groups left. Using the pigeonhole principle, there are at least two
integers (out of the remaining five integers) coming from one of
the four groups. These two integers give the second pair with the
sum 11.
(b) Is the conclusion in part (a) true if six integers are selected rather
than seven?
Solution:
No, among 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, there is only one pair of integers sum-
ming to 11.
3. Seven women and nine men are on the faculty in the mathematics
department at a school.
(a) How many ways are there to select a committee of five members of
the department if at least one woman must be on the committee?
Solution:
The
total number of committees of five with no restriction is
16 9

5 = 4368. There are 5 = 126 ways to choose a committee
of 5 out of 9 men, hence with no woman. As a result, there are
4368 − 126 = 4242 committees with at least one woman.

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 (b) How many ways are there to select a committee of five members
of the department if at least one woman and at least one man
must be on the committee?
Solution:

There are 75 = 21 ways to select a committee of 5 out of 7
women, hence no man. From the previous part, there are 4368
committees with no restriction and there are 126 committees with
no woman. Therefore there are 4368−126−21 = 4221 committees
with at least one woman and at least one man.
4. What is the probability that a five-card poker hand has the following?
(a) Four Aces
Solution:
There are 52


5 = 2598960 possible hands of five cards. In a
hand with four Aces, there are 52 − 4 choices for the fifth card.
So, the probability of getting a five-card hand with four Aces is
48 1
2598960 = 54145 .
(b) Four of a kind
Solution:
There are 13 choices for the four of a kind, and 52 − 4 choices
for the fifth card. So, the probability of getting a five-card hand
with four of a kind is
13 × 48 1
= .
2598960 4165
(c) A full house (three of a kind, and a pair)
Solution:
There are 13 × 43 choices for the three of a kind, and 12 × 42

choices for the pair. So, the probability of getting a full house is
13 × 43 × 12 × 42



6
= .
2598960 4165
(d) Two pairs (not four of a kind nor a full house)
Solution:

There are 132 choices for the two values of two pairs. For each
value, we have 42 pairs, and 52 − 8 choices for the fifth card. So,

the probability of getting a five-card hand with two pairs is

13
4
4

2 × 2 × 2 × 44 198
= .
2598960 4165

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 (e) A straight (a set of five consecutive values with the initial card
value between Ace and 9)
Solution:
The straight could start with a Ace or 2 or . . . or 9. There are 9
choices of the starting number of the straight. Each of the cards
could be one of the four suits. As a result, there are 9×4 5 possible
straights. So, the probability of getting a straight is

9 × 45 192
= .
2598960 54145
5. A croissant shop has plain croissants, cherry croissants, chocolate crois-
sants, almond croissants, apple croissants, and broccoli croissants.
How many ways are there to choose

(a) a dozen croissants?

Solution:
Let x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 be the number of plain croissants,
cherry croissants, chocolate croissants, almond croissants, apple
croissants, and broccoli croissants chosen, respectively.
This problem is equivalent to finding the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 12

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative integers.

The number of solutions is 6+12−1


12 = 6188.
(b) two dozen croissants with at least two of each kind?
Solution:
This problem is equivalent to finding the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24 (1)

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 , x6 ≥ 2.
We first let y1 = x1 − 2 ≥ 0, y2 = x2 − 2 ≥ 0, y3 = x3 − 2 ≥ 0,
y4 = x4 − 2 ≥ 0, y5 = x5 − 2 ≥ 0 and y6 = x6 − 2 ≥ 0. Then we
have

y1 + y 2 + y 3 + y 4 + y 5 + y 6
= (x1 − 2) + (x2 − 2) + (x3 − 2) + (x4 − 2) + (x5 − 2) + (x6 − 2)
= 24 − 12
= 12.

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 The number of solutions of (1) is equal to the number of solution
of
y1 + y2 + y3 + y4 + y5 + y6 = 12
where y1 , y2 , y3 , y4 , y5 , y6 ≥ 0.
The number of solutions is 6+12−1


12 = 6188.
(c) two dozen croissants with no more than two broccoli croissants?
Solution:
This problem is equivalent to finding the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24 (2)

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative integers and x6 ≤ 2

We first see that there are 6+24−1


24 = 118755 solutions to

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative integers.

Now we count the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 ≥ 3 are nonnegative integers. We

let y6 = x6 − 3 and get

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + y6 = 21

where x1 , x
2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and y6 are nonnegative integers. There

are 21+6−1
21 = 65780 solutions to this equation.
Hence there are 118755 − 65780 = 52975 solutions for (2).
(d) two dozen croissants with at least five chocolate croissants and
at most three almond croissants?
Solution:
This problem is equivalent to finding the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24 (3)

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative integers, x3 ≥ 5

and x4 ≤ 3.
We first count the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24

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 where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative integers and x3 ≥
5. Let y3 = x3 − 5 ≥ 0 and we get the following equivalent
equation
x1 + x2 + y3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24 − 5
where x1 , x2 , y3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative

integers. The num-
ber of solutions of this equation is 6+19−1 19 = 42504.
Now we count the number of solutions of

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 24

where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative integers and x3 ≥ 5

and x4 ≥ 4. Let y3 = x3 − 5 ≥ 0 and y4 = x4 − 4. We get the
following equivalent equation

x1 + x2 + y3 + y4 + x5 + x6 = 24 − 5 − 4

where x1 , x2 , y3 , y4 , x5 and x6 are nonnegative

integers. The num-
6+15−1
ber of solutions of this equation is 15 = 15504.
Hence the number of solutions of (3) is 42504 − 15504 = 27000.

6. How many positive integers less than 1,000,000 have exactly one digit
equal to 9 and have a sum of digits equal to 13?
Solution:
Let Si be the set of positive integers less than 1,000,000 with only the
ith digit being 9 and have a sum of digits equal to 13, for i = 1, . . . , 6.
Since our desired integers have exactly one digit equal to 9, the sets
S1 , S2 , . . . , S6 are pairwise disjoint.
If a positive integer in S6 has its last digit being 9, the sum of its first
to fifth digits equals 13 − 9 = 4. Since the sum of these five digits is
4 < 9, none of these digits can be 9. For j = 1, . . . , 5, let x j be the
j th digit. Then the number of positive integers in S 6 is equal to the
number of solutions of

x1 + x 2 + x 3 + x 4 + x 5 = 4
5+4−1

where x1 , . . . , x5 are nonnegative integers. There are 4 = 70
solutions and hence |S1 | = 70.
Similarly, we have |S1 | = |S2 | = |S3 | = |S4 | = |S5 | = 70. By the sum
rule, there are 70 + 70 + 70 + 70 + 70 + 70 = 420 positive integers less
than 1,000,000 have exactly one digit equal to 9 and have a sum of
digits equal to 13.

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7. How many different strings can be made from the letters in AARD-
VARK

(a) using all the letters, if all three A’s must be consecutive?
Solution:
We treat ”AAA” as one symbol, and count the number of per-
mutations of ”AAA”, R, R, D, V, K. By Theorem 3 on page 375,
6!
there are 1!2!1!1!1! = 360 desired strings.
(b) using seven or more letters?
Solution:
If the seven letters are A, A, R, R, D, V, K, then the number of
7!
strings are 2!2!1!1!1! = 1260.
If the seven letters are A, A, A, R, D, V, K, then the number of
7!
strings are 3!1!1!1!1! = 840.
If the seven letters are A, A, A, R, R, V, K, then the number of
7!
strings are 3!2!1!1! = 420.
If the seven letters are A, A, A, R, R, D, K, then the number of
7!
strings are 3!2!1!1! = 420.
If the seven letters are A, A, A, R, R, D, V, then the number of
7!
strings are 3!2!1!1! = 420.
By the sum rule, there are 1260 + 840 + 420 + 420 + 420 = 3360
strings of seven letters in AARDVARK.
8!
There are 3!2!1!1!1! = 3360 strings of eight letters in AARDVARK.
By the sum rule, there are 3360+3360 = 6720 strings using seven
or more letters.