Math 461, Autumn 2017 MIDTERM-LIKE QUESTIONS P1 How many distinet solutions does 21 - 22-13-23 = 3% have over nonnegative integer (A sum answer is fine.) P2 Suppose we have 15 indistinguishable blue balls and 5 indistinguishable red balls that we must place next to each other, in a line. In how many ways can we do that by keeping all the blue balls next to each other? What if the blue balls are numbered By through Bis, and the red balls are numbered Ry through Rs? (A sum answer is fine.) P3 Simplify E()urs =o P4 In how many ways can we divide a box of 7 differently colored crayons into 3 piles, if each pile must be non-empty? Exact answer is required, in the form of a number. 5 The Fibonacci sequence is defined by Fy = Fi = Land Fi = i+ F Show that , < 2", for alll n. 1 for all i > 1 PG In how many ways can we split 12 people in 5 pairs? (‘The order within pairs and among, pairs does not matter.) PT Thirty-three of the squares of an 8 x 8 board are colored green. A tromino is a group of 31 x 1 squares representing a2 x 2 square missing a comer (sce figure below). Show that (for every such coloring of the board) there must be at least one all-green tromino. P8 Compute the power series form of YT, P9 If in the expression of (a+ ag +... +24)" there exists a number which occurs as a coefficient only once, does it mean that k < n, k=n, ork >n? P10 Write the permutation 951642873 in canonical notation.P11 Prove that if p is a permutation of type (a1,a2,..., ap) (ie., it has one cycle of length @,, another of length a2, ete.) then p~! is of the same type. Hint: what are the cycles of at P P12 How many partitions of 29 have three parts, the first of which is odd? Give an exact answer that does not involve a sum.