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06 Combinatorics Counting Principles PDF

This document discusses various counting principles in combinatorics, including: 1) The product rule for counting combinations of independent outcomes. 2) The sum rule and inclusion-exclusion principle for counting combinations when there is overlap between outcomes. 3) The division rule for accounting for symmetrical combinations that are effectively duplicates. Examples of applying these principles to problems involving counting words, seating arrangements, and board game placements are provided.

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119 views19 pages

06 Combinatorics Counting Principles PDF

This document discusses various counting principles in combinatorics, including: 1) The product rule for counting combinations of independent outcomes. 2) The sum rule and inclusion-exclusion principle for counting combinations when there is overlap between outcomes. 3) The division rule for accounting for symmetrical combinations that are effectively duplicates. Examples of applying these principles to problems involving counting words, seating arrangements, and board game placements are provided.

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Aezakmi uzumymw
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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P T H I N K F A ST S

Competitive Programming
From Problem 2 Solution in O(1)

Combinatorics
Counting Principles

Mostafa Saad Ibrahim


PhD Student @ Simon Fraser University
Combinatorics

◼ The study of Counting. Counting usually


results in big values. Most of problems ask to
use % to keep answer small (or BigIntegers)
◼ In many cases, we can find a formula
◼ Other cases, we need to use DP technique.
◼ There are Some Counting Principles to learn
◼ E.g. Product Rule, Sum Rule and Inclusion-Exclusion
◼ Also, some popular formulas and sequences
◼ Please, read a discrete mathematics book
Product rule

◼ How many words of 3 letters of only B, C?

◼ Or easily: 2 x 2 x 2 = 8
◼ General rule: |S1| * |S2| * |S3| … * |Sn|
◼ 2 ties, 5 jackets, 4 jeans, 2 shoes: Clothings?
◼ 2 x 5 x 4 x 2 = 80 dressing styles
Product rule: Code
Sum rule

◼ words: {bbb, bbc, bcb, bcc, cbb, cbc, ccb, ccc}


◼ How many words either start with bb or c?
◼ 2 + 4 [Notice, no intersection between that]
◼ |A ∪ B| = |A| + |B| => [A and B are disjoint]
◼ |A ∪ B ∪ C ∪ D ...| = |A| + |B| + |C| + |D| + ...
◼ How many words either start with cb or c?
◼ 2 + 4? Wrong there is overlap: 2 + 4 - 2(intersection) = 4
◼ How many words either start with cb or end
with bc?
◼ {cbb, cbc} + {bbc, cbc} - {cbc} = 2+4-1 = 5
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

◼ Most of counting involves duplicate counting


issue [count item more than once].
◼ IE principle is a generic sum rule to solve that
◼
◼ 2^3 -1 = 7 subsets (exponential)
◼ General Computations
◼ Enumerate all subsets
◼ Compute each one intersection
◼ If odd subset add (include) it
◼ If even subset subtract (exclude) it
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

◼ How many integers in {1,2 ...,100} are


divisible by 2, 3, 5 or 7?
◼ How many divisible by 2? 100 / 2 = 50
◼ How many divisible by 3? 100 / 3 = 33
◼ How many divisible by 2, 3? 100 / (2*3) = 16
◼ How many divisible by 2, 3, 7? 100 / 42 = 2 => {42, 84}
◼ Answer: compute 2^4 -1 terms = 15 terms
◼ F(2)+F(3)+F(5)+F(7)
◼ -F(2, 3)-F(2, 5)-F(2, 7)-F(3, 5)-F(3, 7)-F(5, 7)
◼ +F(2, 3, 5)+F(2, 3, 7)+F(2, 5, 7)+F(3, 5, 7)
◼ -F(2, 3, 5, 7)
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle: Code
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle: Code
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle: Code
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

◼ How many integers in {1,2 ...,100} are NOT


divisible by 2, 3, 5 or 7?
◼ We can change F function to be F(some
numbers): How many NOT divisible
◼ Generally, the problem or its negate may be
easier to tackle. Complement thinking is a
better approach: E.g. 100 - SumDivisible
◼ Homework: How many integers in {1,2 ...,
100} are divisible by 2, 3, 8 or 10?
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle: Code
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle: Code
The Division Rule

◼ A food table with 3 chairs. Given 3 persons, in


how many ways we can seat them?
◼ 1 2 3, 1 3 2, 2 1 3, 2 3 1, 3 1 2, 3 2 1 => 6 ways
◼ Wrong! 123 same as 231 same as 312 [by making 1 shift]
◼ So given 1 seating, we can generate 3 similar seatings
◼ so answer is 6 / 3 = 2 .. or generally n! / n = n-1!
◼ Division rule: solution = m / d, where each d
elements of m are same (e.g. symmetric)
◼ In an 8x8 chess, how many ways to put rock?
◼ Product rule: 8 rows x 8 cols = 64 ways
The Division Rule

◼ In an 8x8 chess, how many ways to put 2


rocks, with no shared rows or columns?
◼ First piece has 64 choices.. then 1 row & 1 col are blocked
◼ So we have 7x7= 49 choices for 2nd rock. Total 64*49
◼ Wrong! part of your solution {(0,0), (1,1)}, {(1,1), (0,0)}
◼ Symmetry of each 2 rocks. Answer: 64 * 49 / 2
◼ When generating the actual results,
symmetric relationships gives faster code
◼ Generate the main part (major processing time)
◼ Use that to generate the symmetric answer
◼ See USACO problem: Checker Challenge
Double Counting / Bijection

◼ Some Combinatorics problems can be solved


in different ways. Always think from
different angles / See others solutions.
◼ Ex: N persons were asked to attend a meeting.
He can join or not. How many possible cases?
◼ As each one can accept or reject, using product rule, we
have 2 choices per person => 2x2..2 = 2N
◼ Another thinking: Finally k person will attend. For k
person we have cases => A binomial coefficient
◼ Then for k [0-n], sum each case.
Think about

◼ How many ways can six different books be positioned


on a bookshelf?
◼ How many different licence plates can be generated if
the first 4 characters have to be letters and the last 3
characters have to be numbers?
◼ Suppose there is a deck of n cards numbered from 1 to
n. Suppose a card numbered m is in the correct position
if it is the mth card in the deck. How many ways, W,
can the cards be shuffled with at least 1 card being in
the correct position?
◼ See more Qs in Discrete Mathematics Books
‫ﺗﻢ ﺑﺤﻤﺪ ﷲ‬

‫ﻋﻠﻤﻜﻢ ﷲ ﻣﺎ ﯾﻨﻔﻌﻜﻢ‬

‫وﻧﻔﻌﻜﻢ ﺑﻤﺎ ﺗﻌﻠﻤﺘﻢ‬

‫وزادﻛﻢ ﻋﻠﻤﺎ ً‬
….

◼ UVA 11231, 10079, 10198, SRM237-D2-2,


USACO(checker), SPOJ-NGM2, SRM390-2-
3, CF372-D1-B, SRM382-2-3, SRM477-2-3,
CF439-D2-E, CF451-D2-E, SRM444-1-3

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