MAT 481 Review Set Solutions

(1) For any integer n 2,

1
1
1
n1
+
+ ... +
=
.
12 23
(n 1) n
n
1
= 21
Proof. Base Case: Let n = 2. Then 12
2 , so the formula holds.
Inductive Hypothesis: Suppose that for some k 2
1
1
1
k1
+
+ ... +
=
.
12 23
(k 1) k
k
Then by this hypothesis,
1
1
1
1
k1
1
+
+ ... +
+
=
+
12 23
(k 1) k ((k + 1) 1) (k + 1)
k
k(k + 1)

(k 1)(k + 1)
1
+
k(k + 1)
k(k + 1)
2
k 1+1
k
(k + 1) 1
=
=
=
.
k(k + 1)
k+1
(k + 1)
Thus the proposed formula holds for (k + 1). By induction, it holds
for all n 2.

=

(2) Ten bakers compete for gold, silver and bronze medals (one of each)
at a pie contest. How many ways can the medals be awarded?
Award the gold medal (10 ways)
Award the silver medal (9 ways)
Award the bronze medal (8 ways).
By the multiplication principle, there are 10 9 8 ways to award
the medals.
(3) Wanda has 10 books. Four of them are Anthologies of recipes for
brew, two are on taming Beasts, and four of them concern Choosing the best wood for flight. How many ways can Wanda arrange
these books on her shelf, if she wants to keep books of a given type
together?
Fix an ordering of the categories A, B, C (3! ways)
Order the A books (4! ways)
Order the B books (2! ways)
Order the C books (4! ways)
By the multiplication principle, there are 3!4!2!4! ways to arrange
the books.

(4) Wanda wants to use five animal parts in her latest brew. She has at
her disposal Arm of ant, Beak of bird, Claw of cat, Digit of dragon,
Eye of eft, and Foot of frog. She has plenty of each, so if she likes
she can choose all five ingredients to be the same. How many ways
can she decide what to do?
Arrange 5 Xs for the ingredients she will use. Each X will be one
of the six types of ingredients A, B, C, D, E, F. To arrange the Xs
into 6 groups we need 5 dividers. So there will be 5 Xs and 5 dividers
(10 slots total). We need to choose
5 positions for the dividers. The


10!
number of ways to do it is 10
=
5!5! .
5

(5) How many strings can be formed by ordering the letters

FIGGYPUDDING?

For strings, the order matters. We have repeated letters, so by

12!
.
our generalized permutation formula, the answer is 3!2!2!
(6) How many of the above strings have F occurring before Y?
12!
ways.)
First, order YIGGYPUDDING. ( 3!2!2!2!
Next, replace the first Y in the resulting string by F. (1 way).
12!
such strings (i.e.
By the multiplication principle, there are 3!2!2!2!
exactly half of the orderings of FIGGYPUDDING have F before Y).

(7) A bag contains 20 balls: 6 red, 6 blue, and 8 yellow.

(a) How many ways can we select 5 balls if the balls are considered
distinct?


Of the 20 balls we must choose 5. There are 20
5 ways to do
this.
(b) How many ways can we select 5 balls if balls of the same color
are considered identical?
We
need 5 balls (Xs) divided into 3 types (colors). So there are
7

ways
to do it.
2

(8) Eight Freshmen and Eleven Sophomores are riding the bus. At the
bus stop, 14 people leave the bus. How many ways is this possible if
not all Freshmen leave the bus?


The number of ways 14 people can leave the bus is 19
14 .
The
number
of
ways
14
people
can
leave
if
all
8
Freshmen
leave is
11

since
of
the
remaining
11
sophomores,
6
must
leave
the
bus.
6
Thus the number of ways 14 people can leave if not all freshmen
get off the bus is
   
19
11

.
14
6
(There are other ways to do this problem as well).
(9) A Math 481 student solved 29 problems in 7 days. Show that on
some day she solved at least 5 problems.
We have 29 pigeons (problems) flying into 7 holes
 29 (days). By the
Generalized Pigeonhole Principle, some hole gets 7 = 5 pigeons.

(10) Griswald gets paid every other Friday. Show that in any given year
there is one month in which he gets paid three times.

There are 26 pigeons (paydays) flying into 12 holes (months).

By
 26 
the Generalized Pigeonhole Principle, some hole gets 12 = 3 pigeons.
(11) Expand (a + b)5 .
(a + b)5 =

5  
X
5
i=0

ai b5i

You should know the above formula, and also be able to write this
out explicitly by using Pascals triangle.
(12) Compute the coefficient of x2 y 3 z in (x + y + z)6 .
Of

the 6 factors of (x + y + z), we choose 2 from which to take x
ways).


Of the remaining 4 factors, choose 3 from which to take y ( 43
ways).
There is only 1 factor left, and we take z from it. (1 way).
By the multiplication
principle, the number of ways to get x2 y 3 z
6
4

in this product is 2 3 , so this is the coefficient of x2 y 3 z.

6
2

(13) How many ways can a deck of 52 (distinct) cards be separated into 4
(distinct) piles of 13 cards? (You are counting the number of possible
deals in bridge.)
Because the order of the four piles is important here, we can proceed as follows.


Deal the first hand ( 52
13 ways).


Deal the second hand ( 39
ways).
13


26
Deal the third hand ( 13 ways).
Give the remaining 13 cards to the fourth player (1 way).
By the multiplication principle, the total number of ways to deal
these cards is
     
26
39
52
.

13
13
13

How would you count the same thing if the order of the 4 hands
is not important, i.e. if it doesnt matter which player gets which
hand- all that matters is the 4 hands which are dealt?
Answer: Divide the above result by 4! since there are 4! ways to
order each deal.
More formally, let N be the number we want. Deal 4 hands of
bridge as follows.
(a) Choose an unordered set of 4 hands (N ways).
(b) Choose an ordering of the 4 hands (4! ways)
By the multiplication principle the number possible
deals is N (4!).
52
39
26

By the previous part, it follows that N (4!) = 13 13 13 , and we
can solve for N by dividing by 4!.