PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS

EXERCISE:
1. In how many ways can the 7 letters A,B,C,D,E,F and G be arranged so that C
and E never together. (CTS)
a) 5040 b) 6480 c) 3600 d) 1440
Solution:
C and E never together = Total arrangements – C and E together
Total arrangements are 7!
C and E together = pack c and e into one unit + 5 other alphabets = 6! 2! ( 2!
Is two arrange c and e internally)
C and E never together = Total arrangements – C and E together = 7! – 6! 2!
= 3600

2. How many numbers are there in all from 4000 to 4999 (both 4000 and 4999
included) having at least one of their digits repeated? (CTS)
a) 356 b) 216 c) 496 d) 504
Solution:
Atleast one of their digits repeated = Total numbers – None of the digits
repeated
Total numbers from 4000 to 4999 = 1000
None of the digits repeated = _ _ _ _
There are total 4 places
st
1 place is filled with 4 only. So only one choice
nd st
2 place is filled with any 9 digits except 4 as we have used 4 in 1 place. So
9 choices
rd
Similarly 3 place is filled with any 8 digits. So we have 8 choices
th
4 place is filled with any 7 digits. So we have 7 choices.
So total arrangements = 1 * 9 * 8 * 7 = 504
Ans= 1000 – 504 = 496

3. In how many ways can 44 people be divided into 22 couples? (CTS)

a) (44!)/{(2!)22 (22!) b) 473 c) 946 d) None
Solution:
Shortcut how many ways n people be divided into n/2 couples
(n!)/{(2!)n/2 (n/2)!} so ans is a. (44!)/{(2!)22 (22!)}

4. At an election there are five candidates and three members to be elected, and
a voter may vote for any number of candidates not greater than the number
to be elected. Then the number of ways in which a voter may vote is
(CAPGEMINI)
a) 25 b) 30 c) 32 d) none of these
Solution:
 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
A voter can give either 1 vote, 2 votes or 3 votes.
Number of ways to give only 1 vote = 5C1 = 5

Number of ways to give only 2 vote = 5C2 = 10

Number of ways to give all 3 vote = 5C3 = 10

so, a voter can cast his vote by total : 5+10+10= 25 ways.
5. There are n different books and p copies of each. the number of ways in which
a selection can be made from them is (CAPGEMINI)
a) np b) pn c) (p+1)n -1 d) (n+1)p-1
Solution:

6. The sides AB, BC, CA of a triangle ABC have 3,4 and 5 interior points
respectively on them. The total number of triangles that can be constructed by
using these points as vertices is (CAPGEMINI)
a) 220 b) 204 c) 205 d) 195
Solution:
Three dots have to be selected to form a triangle. But at the same time, if
three dots are selected from a same straight line, then a triangle cant be
formed.
The no. of ways three dots are selected out of total dots is = 12C3.
The no. of ways three dots are selected from same line are = 3C3 + 4C3 + 5C3
Required answer = 12c3 - 3c3 - 4c3 - 5c3=205

7. A college has 10 basketball players. A 5-member team and a captain will be

selected out of these 10 players. How many different selections can be made?
(CAPGEMINI)
a) 1260 b) 210 c) 10c6 * 6! d) 10c5 * 6
Solution:
A team of 6 members has to be selected from the 10 players. This can be done
in 10C6 or 210 ways.
Now, the captain can be selected from these 6 players in 6 ways.
Therefore, total ways the selection can be made is 210*6 = 1260.
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8. If the letters of the word CHASM are rearranged to form 5 letter words such
that none of the word repeat and the results arranged in ascending order as in
a dictionary what is the rank of the word CHASM? (CAPGEMINI)
a) 24 b) 31 c) 32 d) 30
Solution:
The 5 letter word can be rearranged in 5!=120 Ways without any of the letters
repeating.

The first 24 of these words will start with A.

Then the 25th word will start will CA _ _ _.

The remaining 3 letters can be rearranged in 3!=6 Ways. i.e. 6 words exist that
start with CA.

The next word starts with CH and then A, i.e., CHA _ _.

The first of the words will be CHAMS. The next word will be CHASM.

Therefore, the rank of CHASM will be 24+6+2= 32

9. 8 chairs are numbered from 1 to 8. Two women first choose two chairs from
those marked 1 to 4 and 3 men selects 3 chairs from the remaining. Find the
number of possible arrangements? (IBM)
a) 1420 b) 1460 c) 1440 d. 1480
Solution:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 are 8 chairs.
two women first choose two chairs from 1,2,3,4
in 4p2 ways = 12 different ways
3 men selects 3 chairs from the rest 6 chairs = 6p3 = 6*5*4 = 120.

Total number of possible arrangement = 12*120 = 1440.

10. If 200 chocolates were distributed among 100 people, in such a manner that
each man received 1 chocolate, each woman received 4 chocolates and each
child received 6 chocolates. Find which of the following is a possible value for
the number of children? (IBM)
a) 12 b) 16 c) 8 d) 0
Solution:
Let number of men, women and children be m,w and c respectively.
Then, since each man received 1 chocolate, each woman received 4 chocolates
and each child received 6 chocolates.
Hence m + 4w + 6c = 200 ------[1]
 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
Also we are given that m + w + c = 100 ------[2]
By hidden and trial,
We get
⇒m = 72, w=20 and c = 8.
This is the only solution
Hence number of children will be 8.
or m = 4, w = 25 and c = 16
But according to the option answer is 8

11. A team is to be formed comprising 9 members such that there is a simple

majority of boys and at least 2 girl. The shortlist consists of 12 men and 7
women. In how many ways can this be done? (MINDTREE)
a)3,7244 b)3,6304 c)4,9764 d)5,6704
Solution:
Three possibilities: (2W+7M), (3W+6M), (4W+5M)

=> (7C2*12C7)+(7C3 12C6)+ (7C4 12C5)

=> [(7*6)/(2*1) x(12*11*10*9*8*7*6)/ (7*6*5*4*3*2*1)]+

[(7*6*5)/(3*2*1)x(12*11*10*9*8*7)/(6*5*4*3*2*1)] +
[(7*6*5*4)/(4*3*2*1)x(12*11*10*9*8)/(5*4*3*2*1)]

=>16632 + 32340 + 792

=>49764
12. From a pack playing cards, 5 cards are removed at random. In how many ways
can the 1st place and 4th place cards be drawn out such that both are red?
(MINDTREE)
a)3,057,600 b)1496352 c)1694347 d)159250
Solution:
st nd rd th th st nd rd th th
= 1 place * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 + 1 place * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5
= Red * Black * Black * Red * (R/B) + R * R * R * R * (R/B)
= 26 * 26 * 25 * 25 * 48 + 26 * 25 * 24 * 23 * 48
= 3,057,600
13. In how many ways can the digits 2,3,4,6,8 and 9 be placed to form a 3-digit
number so that the higher order number is always greater than the lower
order number? (MINDTREE)
a)20 b)7 c)3 d)9
Solution:
th th th
100 place is greater than 10 place and 10 place greater than unit place.
Start with 9 = 9,8 _(last position 6,4,3,2) can be used 4 ways.
 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
= 9,6 _(last position 4,3,2) can be used 3 ways.
= 9,4 _(last position 3,2) can be used 2 ways
= 9,3 _(last position 2) can be used 1 ways
Start with 8 = 8,6 _(last position 4,3,2) can be used 3 ways.
= 8,4 _(last position 3,2) can be used 2 ways
= 8,3 _(last position 2) can be used 1 ways
Start with 6 = 6,4 _(last position 3,2) can be used 2 ways
= 6,3 _(last position 2) can be used 1 ways
Start with 4 = 4,3 _(last position 2) can be used 1 ways
Totally 20 ways.
14. In how many ways can 6 girls and 6 boys form three mixed doubles teams for a
badminton match? (MINDTREE)
a) 400 b)800 c)360 d)840
Solution:
3 women and 3 men in

6C3*×6C3 = 400 ways

Pair them in 2 ways = 400*2= 800 ways

16. A football coach was trying to form the groups of players in such a way that
every group has equal number of players and that number should be a prime
number. He tried for first 6 prime numbers, but on each occasion exactly one
player was left behind. If the total number of player is in 5 digits, how many
different possible solutions are there for the total number of players?
(MINDTREE)
a)0 b)3 c)2 d)5
Solution:
lcm of 2,3,5,7,11,13 is 30030

after each occasion one left then 30030+1=30031

5 digit largest number is 99999

if we divide 99999 by 30031=3.32(near about)

Hence the answer is 3

17. Mohan buys 8 color pens from a fair. Kiran buys 6 color pens from the fair,
none of which is common with those bought by Mohan. They decide to
exchange their color pens one for one. In how many ways can they exchange
their color pens for the first time? (MINDTREE)
 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS

a)8!x6! b)8!x6 c)48 d)6!x8

Solution:
one color pen can be exchanged with either of the other 8 color pens.

=>8*6=48 ways
18. There are 6 boxes numbered 1, 2,...6. Each box is to be filled up either with a
red or a green ball in such a way that at least 1 box contains a green ball and
the boxes containing green balls are consecutively numbered. The total
number of ways in which this can be done is (INFOSYS)
a) 5 b)21 c)33 d)60
Solution:
As far as the question is concerned:
If there is one box that contains a green ball then
there will be 6 ways to do it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6

If there are two boxes that contain green ball(s) then

there will be 5 ways to do it: (1,2) (2,3) (3,4) (4,5) or
(5,6)

If there are three boxes that contain green ball(s) then

there will be 4 ways to do it: (1,2,3) (2,3,4) (3,4,5) or
(4,5,6)

If there are four boxes that contain green ball(s) then

there will be 3 ways to do it: (1,2,3,4) (2,3,4,5) or
(3,4,5,6)

If there are five boxes that contain green ball(s) then

there will be 2 ways to do it: (1,2,3,4,5) or (2,3,4,5,6)

If there are six boxes that contain green ball(s) then

there will be 1 way to do it: (1,2,3,4,5,6)

So in total 1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21 ways

Hence, answer B
19. In how many ways can 7 different balls be distributed in 5 different boxes if
any box can contain any number of balls and no box is left empty? (INFOSYS)
a)16800 b)12400 c)22000 d)19700
Solution:
Since no box can be left empty, there can be only two cases.
 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
Case A: 1,1,1,1,3
(i.e., 3 balls are put in 1 box and 1 ball is put in each of the remaining 4
boxes.)

A box (in which 3 balls are put) can be selected in 5C1 ways.
Now, the three balls can be selected in 7C3 ways.
Remaining 4 balls can be arranged in 4! ways.

Hence, total number of ways

= 5C1 × 7C3 × 4! ...(A)

Case B: 1,1,1,2,2

(i.e., two balls are put in each of the two boxes and 1 ball is put in each of
the remaining 3 boxes.)

The two boxes (in each of them, two balls are put) can be selected in 5C2
ways.
Now, two balls for the first selected box can be selected in 7C2 ways.
Two balls for the second selected box can be selected in 5C2 ways.
Remaining 3 balls can be arranged in 3! ways

Hence, total number of ways

= 5C2 × 7C2 × 5C2 × 3! ...(B)

From (A) and (B),

Required number of ways
= (5C1 × 7C3 × 4!) + (5C2 × 7C2 × 5C2 × 3!)
=(5×35×24)+(10×21×10×6)=4200+12600=16800
20. In how many ways can 7 different balls be distributed in 5 different boxes if
box 3 and box 5 can contain only one and two number of balls respectively
and rest of the boxes can contain any number of balls? (INFOSYS)
a) 10100 b)6200 c)8505 d)12800
Solution:
One ball for box 3 can be selected in 7C1 ways.
Two balls for box 5 can be selected in 6C2 ways.

Remaining balls = 4
Remaining boxes = 3

In these 4 balls, 1st ball can be put in any of these 3 boxes.

 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
Similarly 2nd ball can be put in any of these 3 boxes.
3rd ball can be put in any of these 3 boxes.
4th ball can be put in any of these 3 boxes.

i.e., these 4 balls can be arranged in

3×3×3×3=81 ways

Required number of ways

= 7C1 × 6C2 × 81=7×15×81=8505
PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS