In The Name of ALLAH

Yazd University
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Engineering Probability & Statistics
Instructor : Dr. Tadaion
Fall 1391

Problem Set #1
Review of Combinatorial Analysis

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1- Give an analytic proof of the following relation :

n
r

n 1
r 1

n 1
r

2- Show that for all positive integers m and n :

n

m+n
m

= (m + 1)

m+n
m +1

3- For any positive integer n determine the following values :

n
1
a)
i )!
i = 0 i!( n
b)

n
i =0

( 1) i
i!(n i )!

4- For n as a positive integer, evaluate the following sum :

S=

n
n
n
n
n
+2
+ 22
+ L + 2k
+ L + 2n
k
n
0
1
2

5- For x as a real number and n as a positive integer, show that :

a) 1 = (1 + x) n
b) 1 = (2 + x) n
c) 2 n = (2 + x) n

x(1 + x) n 1 +

x 2 (1 + x) n

L + ( 1) n

xn

1
2
n
n
n
n
( x + 1)(2 + x) n 1 +
( x + 1) 2 (2 + x) n 2 L + ( 1) n
( x + 1) n
1
2
n
n
n 2
n n
x( 2 + x ) n 1 +
x (2 + x) n 2 L + ( 1) n
x
1
2
n

6- If n is a positive integer and n > 1 , prove that S =

n
n 1
is a perfect square.
+
2
2

7- Let w =

1
( 1 + j 3 ) , so that w 3 = 1 and w 2 + w + 1 = 0 . Use the binomial theorem to
2

show that :
n
0

n
1
+ L = (2 n + 2 cos
)
6
3
3

8- Prove that if n is a positive integer, then :

2n
n
9- Show that for all m

2n

n 1

1 2n + 2
2 n +1

0 and n 1 :
n
i =0

m+i

m + n +1

m +1

10- Prove that :

i =0

2n

Hint : Consider the expansion of the identity : (1 + x) n (1 + x) n = (1 + x) 2 n

11- Use the expansion of the identity (1 + x) n (1 x) n = (1 x 2 ) n , to compute the following
finite sum :
n

( 1)

i =0

12- a) Prove that :

n
r

n n 1
r r 1

b) Use the part (a) to show that :

n
i =0

n
i

= n2 n

13- An alphabet of 40 symbols is used for transmitting messages in a communication

system. How many distinct messages (lists of symbols) of 25 symbols can the transmitter
generate if symbols can be repeated in the message? How many if 10 of the 40 symbols
can appear only as the first and/or last symbols of the message, the other 30 symbols can
appear anywhere, and repetitions of all symbols are allowed?
14- Over the Internet, data are transmitted in structured blocks of bits called datagrams.
a) In how many ways can the letters in DATAGRAM be arranged?
b) For the arrangements of part (a), how many have all three A's together?
c) In how many ways can the letters in KAKA be arranged?
d) For the arrangements of part (c), how many have all two K's together?

15- How many binary sequences are there containing exactly p 0's and q 1's in an
encrypted message, such that q p 1 and with no two 0's together?
16- How many bytes contain (a) exactly two 1's? (b) exactly four 1's? (c) at least six 1's?
17- In the study of Coding and Information Theory (Communication Theory), we
consider certain arrangements, called strings, made up from a prescribed alphabet of
symbols. If the prescribed alphabet consists of the symbols 0, 1, and 2, for example, then
01, 11, 21, 12, and 20 are five of the nine strings of length two. Among the 27 strings of
length three are 000, 012,202, and 110. In general, if n is any positive integer, then by
the rule of product there are 3n strings of length n for the alphabet 0, 1, and 2. If
x = x1 x 2 x3 L xn is one of these strings, we define the weight of x , denoted wt (x ) by

wt ( x) = x1 + x 2 + x3 + L + x n . For example, wt (12) = 3 and wt (22) = 4 for the case where

n = 2 ; wt (101) = 2 , wt (210) = 3 , and wt (222) = 6 for n = 3 .
Use these facts to determine the number of strings of length 10 that have even weight.

18- For the strings of length 10 in Problem 17, how many have (a) four 0's, three 1's, and
three 2's; (b) at least eight 1's; (c) weight 4?
19- Consider the collection of all strings of length 10 made up from the alphabet 0, 1, 2,
and 3. How many of these strings have weight 3? How many have weight 4? How many
have even weight?
20- Consider a binary code with 5 bits (0 or 1) in each code word. An example of a code
word is 01010. How many different code words are there? How many code words have
exactly three 0's?
21- a) For n > 4 , consider the strings made up of n bits, that is, a total of n 0's and 1's.
In particular, consider those strings where there are (exactly) two occurrences of 01. For
example, if n = 6 we want to include strings such as 010010 and 100101, but not 101111
or 010101. How many such strings are there?
b) For n > 6 , how many strings of n 0's and 1's contain (exactly) three occurrences of
01?
22- Call a 7-digit telephone number d1 d 2 d 3 d 4 d 5 d 6 d 7 memorable if the prefix sequence
d1 d 2 d 3 is exactly the same as either of the sequences d 4 d 5 d 6 or d 5 d 6 d 7 (possibly both).
Assuming that each d i can be any of ten decimal digits 0,1,2,,9. Find the number of
different memorable telephone numbers.
23- A message is made up of 12 different symbols and is to be transmitted through a
communication channel. In addition to the 12 symbols, the transmitter will also send a
total of 45 (blank) spaces between the symbols, with at least three spaces between each
pair of consecutive symbols. In how many ways can the transmitter send such a
message?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Good Luck"
Gathered by : Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian Sarcheshmeh (TA)
TA's Email : mohammadian63[at]yahoo[dot]com