Same question as above but the chairs are numbered i.e. all the seats are distinct. Find the number of ways in which four men, two women and a child can sit around a circular table with numbered seats if the child is seated between the two women.

The first thing I want to discuss is something we call “Basic Counting Principle” because it is useful in almost all 600-700 level questions of Combinatorics (Note here that I will avoid using the terms “Permutation” and “Combination” and the formulas associated with them since they are not necessary and make people uncomfortable). Also, many of the 700+ level questions use basic counting principle as the starting point so it’s not possible to start a discussion on combinatorics without discussing this principle first. Let’s try to understand it using an example.

Example 1: There are 3 boys and 2 girls. We want to select a pair of one boy and one girl for a dance. In how many ways can we do it?

Solution: Let’s discuss the solution in detail. This is a very basic and very important concept.

Say the 3 boys are B1, B2 and B3. Say the 2 girls are G1 and G2.

In how many ways can you make a pair?

B1 – G1

B1 – G2

B2 – G1

B2 – G2

B3 – G1

B3 – G2

A total of 6 ways. We see that we can select a boy in 3 ways (since there are 3 boys) and we can select a girl in 2 ways (since there are 2 girls). So we can make a pair in 3*2 = 6 ways.

The basic counting principle deals with problems having ‘distinct spots’ and ‘available contenders’. Here we have 1 spot for a boy and 1 spot for a girl i.e. 2 distinct spots. There are 3 contenders for the empty ‘boy spot’ and 2 contenders for the empty ‘girl spot’. These spots can be filled in 3*2 = 6 ways. The word ‘distinct’ is important here as we will see in the next few weeks.

Also notice here that it is not 3+2 = 5 ways. This is so because we have to choose a boy AND a girl simultaneously. For every boy, we could choose a girl in 2 ways and there are 3 boys so we can choose a pair in 3*2 ways. If we had to choose one boy OR one girl (i.e. just one person), we could have done it in 3+2 = 5 ways because there are 5 people and we have to choose one of them. The distinction between ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ is quite important since it defines whether you will multiply or add.

Let’s look at some more examples of basic counting principle.

Example 2: A restaurant serves 6 varieties of appetizers, 10 different entrees and 4 different desserts. In how many ways can one make a meal if one chooses one appetizer, one entree and one dessert?

Solution: In how many ways can you choose an appetizer? 6 ways

In how many ways can you choose your entree? 10 ways

In how many ways can you choose your dessert? 4 ways

In how many different ways can you make your meal? To make your meal, you need one appetizer AND one entree AND one dessert. There are 3 distinct spots and you have to fill each one of them. You can do it in 6*10*4 = 240 ways.

Example 3: In how many ways can you make a five letter password using the first ten letters of the English alphabet? (You can use only capital letters.)

Solution: In how many ways can you choose the first letter of the password? 10 ways. You can put in any letter from A to J.

What about the second letter? Again, you can choose it in 10 ways. The question doesn’t say that you cannot repeat a letter once you use it.

Similarly, each digit can be chosen in 10 ways.

Since you have to choose the first letter AND the second letter AND the third letter etc, the total number of ways of selecting a five letter password is 10*10*10*10*10 = 10^5 ways. You have 5 distinct spots and you can fill each one of them in 10 ways.

You can make the 5 letter password in 10^5 ways.

Example 4: Five friends go to watch a movie. They are supposed to occupy seat numbers 51 to 55. In how many different ways can they do it?

Solution: Let’s look at the first seat i.e. seat number 51. In how many ways can you make someone sit there? Of course 5 ways since you have 5 people. Say, you make one of them sit on seat number 51. Now in how many ways can you make someone sit on seat number 52? Remember that you have only 4 contenders left now since one of them is already sitting on seat number 51. Therefore, you can make someone sit there in 4 ways only. Next, for seat number 53, you only have 3 contenders left. For seat number 54, you have only 2 contenders left and then for seat number 55, only the last person is remaining i.e. just one option.

The total number of ways of arranging 5 people on 5 distinct seats is 5*4*3*2*1 = 120

These are some of the most basic examples of basic counting principle. Below, I am giving more questions which are just twists on these questions. Try them and get back if you have any doubts. We will take some higher level concepts from next post on.

Question 1: A restaurant serves 6 varieties of appetizers, 10 different entrees and 4 different desserts. In how many ways can one make a meal if one chooses an appetizer, at least one and at most two different entrees and one dessert?

Question 2: In how many ways can you make a five digit password using the first ten letters of the English alphabet if each letter can be used at most once? (You can use only capital letters.)

Question 3: In how many ways can BRIAN make a five digit password using the first ten letters of the English alphabet if each letter can be used at most once and one is not allowed to use any letter which appears in one’s name? (You can use only capital letters.)

Question 4: Six friends go to watch a movie. They are supposed to occupy seat numbers 51 to 56. However one of them falls sick and returns home. In how many different ways can the 5 people sit?

Question 5: Eight friends go to watch a movie but only 5 tickets were available. In how many different ways can 5 people sit and watch the movie?

Where are the answers to the last 5 questions?

Let’s continue our discussion on combinations here. From the previous posts, we understand that combination is nothing but “selection.” Today we will discuss a concept that confuses a lot of people. It is similar to making committees (that we saw last week), but with a difference. Read the two questions given below:

Question 1: In how many ways can one divide 12 different chocolate bars equally among four boys?

Question 2: In how many ways can one divide 12 different chocolate bars into four stacks of 3 bars each?

Do you think the 2 questions are the same and the answer would be the same in both cases? After all, once you divide the chocolates into four stacks, it doesn’t matter who you give them to! Actually, it does! The two questions are different. Since the chocolates are different, the four stacks will be different. So how you distribute the stacks among the 4 boys is material.

Let us take a simple case first.

Say, there are just 4 chocolate bars: A, B, C, D
We want to split them in 2 groups containing 2 chocolate bars each. There are two ways of doing this:

Method I
In group 1, we can put any 2 chocolate bars and we will put the remaining 2 chocolate bars in group 2.

We could put them in two distinct groups in the following 6 ways:

1. Group1: A and B, Group2: C and D
2. Group1: C and D, Group2: A and B (If you notice, this is the same as above. The only difference is that A and B is group 2 and C and D is group 1 here)
3. Group1: A and C, Group2: B and D
4. Group1: B and D, Group2: A and C (This is the same as above. The only difference is that A and C is group 2 and B and D is group 1 here)
5. Group1: A and D, Group2: B and C
6. Group1: B and C, Group2: A and D (Again, this is the same as above. Here, B and C is group 2 and A and D is group 1)

We have to put the four chocolates in two different groups, group 1 and group 2. It is similar to distributing 4 chocolates between 2 boys equally. Boy 1 could get (A and B) or (C and D) or (A and C) or (B and D) or (A and D) or (B and C). Boy 2 gets the other 2 chocolates in each case.

Method II
The two groups can be made in the following three ways:

A and B, C and D

A and C, B and D

A and D, B and C

In this case, the groups are not named/distinct. You have 4 chocolates in front of you and you just split them in 2 groups. (A and B, C and D) is the same as (C and D, A and B). There are a total of 3 ways of doing this i.e. half of the number of ways we saw in method 1. It is logical, isn’t it? You divide the answer you get above by 2! because the two groups are not distinct in this case.

Let’s look at the original two questions now:

Question 1: In how many ways can one divide twelve different chocolate bars equally among four boys?

You need to divide 12 chocolate bars among four boys i.e. you have to make four distinct groups. To boy 1, you can give the first chocolate in 12 ways, the second chocolate in 11 ways and the third chocolate in 10 ways. But we don’t want to arrange the chocolates so you can select 3 chocolates for boy 1 in 12*11*10/3! ways (this is equivalent to 12C3 if you follow the formula). Similarly, you can select 3 chocolates for the second boy in 9*8*7/3! ways (i.e. 9C3), for the third boy in 6*5*4/3! ways (i.e. 6C3) and for the fourth boy in 3*2*1/3! ways (i.e. 3C3)

Therefore, you can distribute 12 chocolates among 4 boys equally in (12*11*10/3!) * (9*8*7/3!) * (6*5*4/3!) * (3*2*1/3!) = 12!/(3!*3!*3!*3!) ways

Alternatively, you can visualize putting the 12 chocolates in a row in 12! ways and drawing a line after every three chocolates to demarcate the groups.

OOO l OOO l OOO l OOO

Since the chocolates within the groups are not arranged, we divide 12! by 3! for every group. Since there are 4 groups, number of ways of making 4 distinct groups = 12!/(3!*3!*3!*3!)

Question 2: In how many ways can one divide 12 different chocolate bars into four stacks of 3 bars each?

What do you think will the answer be here? Will it be the same as above? No. Here the 4 stacks are not distinct. You need to divide the answer you obtained above by 4! (similar to the simple example with just 4 chocolates we saw above).

In this case, the required number of ways = 12!/(3!*3!*3!*3!*4!)

Since the groups are not distinct here, your answer changes. When the question says that you need to make n groups/bundles/teams that are not distinct, you need to divide by (n!). If the groups/bundles/teams are distinct then you do not divide by (n!).

Let’s look at another question that uses the same concept.

Question 3: 8 friends want to play doubles tennis. In how many different ways can the group be divided to make 4 teams of 2 people each?

(A) 420
(B) 2520
(C) 168
(D) 90
(E) 105

Solution: It is quite clear here that the teams are not distinct i.e. we don’t have team 1, team 2 etc. But let’s solve this question by first making team 1, team 2, team 3 and team 4. Later we will adjust the answer.

Out of 8 people, in how many ways can we make team 1? In 8*7/2! ways (i.e. 8C2).
Out of 6 people, in how many ways can we make team 2? In 6*5/2! ways (i.e. 6C2).
Out of 4 people, in how many ways can we make team 3? In 4*3/2! ways (i.e. 4C2).
Out of 2 people, in how many ways can we make team 4? In 2*1/2! ways (i.e. 2C2).

In how many ways can we make the 4 teams? In 8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1/(2!*2!*2!*2!) = 8!/(2!*2!*2!*2!) ways. But here, we have considered the 4 teams to be distinct. Since the teams are not distinct, we will just divide by 4!

We get 8!/(2!*2!*2!*2!*4!) = 105

Answer (E) This question is discussed HERE.

I hope the explanation makes sense. We will continue with Combinatorics in the next post. I told you that once we get into it, it takes a long time to get out of it

Hi VeritasKarishma ma'am, chetan2u

In Q 1 - If the question had not mentioned equally, the answer would have been 4^12? - Same as Q1 in topic: Unfair Distributions in Combinatorics - Part 1

Also When do we Use the below formula:

a. if r >= 0 n+r-1 C r-1
b. If r > 1 , n-1 C r-1


Thanks
Harsh