UHS Math Club 2017-2018

Combinatorics Handout # 7 Answers and Solutions

Walker Kroubalkian
March 27, 2018

1 Answers
1
1.
11
2. 36
3. 89
4. 1296
5. 34
4
6.
9
7. 1997
8. 2063
9. 11
10. 34
2019
11.
1001
12. 201
3
13.
2017
14. 12
15. 225

2 Solutions

1. You have 9 colors of socks and 5 socks of each type of color. Pick two socks randomly. What is
the probability that they are the same color?
Solution: Consider an arbitrary sock. There are 9 · 5 − 1 = 44 socks which are not this sock, and
4 1
only 5 − 1 = 4 of them have the same color. Therefore, our answer is 44 = .
11
2. Each BMT, every student chooses one of three focus rounds to take. Bob plans to attend BMT
for the next 4 years and wants to figure out what focus round to take each year. Given that he
wants to take each focus round at least once, how many ways can he choose which round to take
each year?

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Solution: There are 3 ways to choose which Focus Round Bob takes twice, = 6 ways to
2
choose which two years Bob takes that Focus Round, and 2 ways to choose which order Bob takes
the other two Focus Rounds. It follows that our answer is 3 · 6 · 2 = 36 .
3. How many subsets of {1, 2, ..., 9} do not contain 2 adjacent numbers?
Solution: Let Fn be the number of subsets of {1, 2, ..., n} which do not contain 2 adjacent numbers.
When n ≥ 3, we claim that Fn = Fn−1 + Fn−2 . This is because if n is included in a subset, then the
remaining elements must come from some subset included in Fn−2 whereas when n is not included
in a subset, the remaining elements must come from subset included in Fn−1 . We know that F1 = 2
and F2 = 22 − 1 = 3. Therefore, by brute force we can find that the next few terms of this sequence
are 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, and finally F9 = 89 .
4. Let S = {1, 2, ...6}. How many functions f : S → S are there such that for all s ∈ S,
f 5 (s) = f (f (f (f (f (s))))) = 1.

Solution: We can begin by noting that f (1) = 1, as if f (1) = n for some n 6= 1, then we would
have that f 5 (n) = f (f 5 (1)) = f (1) = n 6= 1. If we consider this function as a directed graph in
graph theory where each input represents a vertex of our graph and each edge extends from the
input to its respective output, then it follows that the graph is a tree with a base at the vertex
1. From here, we can do casework on the branches of this tree. If the tree has one branch with
5 vertices extending from the base, then there are 5! + 5! + 5! + 5! 5! 5! 5! 5! 5!
2! + 3! + 2! + 2! + 4! + 2! = 625
possibilities. If the tree has one branch with 4 vertices extending from the base and one branch
with 1 vertex extending from the base, then there are 5! + 5! 5!
2! + 5! + 3! = 320 possibilities. If the tree
has one branch with 3 vertices extending from the base and one branch with 2 vertices extending
from the base, then there are 5! + 5! 2! = 180 possibilities. If the tree has one branch with 3 vertices
extending from the base, and two branches each with one vertex extending from the base, then
5! 5!
there are 2! + 2!·2! = 90 possibilities. If the tree has one branch with 1 vertex extending from
the base and two branches each with 2 vertices extending from the base, then there are 5! 2! = 60
possibilities. If the tree has one branch with 2 vertices extending from the base and 3 branches
each with 1 vertex extending from the base, then there are 5! 3! = 20 possibilities. If the tree has 5
5!
branches each with 1 vertex extending from the base, then there is 5! = 1 possibility. Therefore
our answer is that there are 625 + 320 + 180 + 90 + 60 + 20 + 1 = 1296 possible functions.
Note: While this method confirms the answer key that the Berkeley Math Tournament provided,
it raises a different question. Is there a good reason why the answer is 64 = 1296? There might be,
but the Berkeley Math Tournament did not provide a solution, so I am not sure why this may be
true at the moment.
5. You enter an elevator on floor 0 of a building with some other people, and request to go to
floor 10. In order to be efficient, it doesn’t stop at adjacent floors (so, if it’s at floor 0, its next
stop cannot be floor 1). Given that the elevator will stop at floor 10, no matter what other floors
it stops at, how many combinations of stops are there for the elevator?
Solution: Let Fn be the number of ways to go up n floors without stopping on adjacent floors.
We claim that Fn = Fn−2 + Fn−1 . This is because if we stop at the floor 2 above our start, then
the remaining moves must come from one of the possibilities in Fn−2 whereas if we don’t stop at
the floor 2 above our start, then the question is equivalent to going up n − 1 floors. We know that
F1 = 0 and F2 = 1. It follows that the next few terms of this sequence are 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and
finally F10 = 34 .

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Note: The answer key states that 55 is also an acceptable answer. I don’t know what interpretation
would produce this answer at the moment.
6. Eric has a 9-sided die and Harrison has an 11-sided die. They each roll their respective die.
Eric wins if he rolls a number greater than or equal to Harrison’s number. What is the probability
that Eric wins?
Solution: If Eric rolls n ≥ 2, then there are n possibilities forPwhat Harrison could roll such that
Eric would have a higher number. It follows that there are 9n=2 = 44 possibilities where Eric
44 4
wins. It follows that our answer is 9·11 = .
9
7. Ed writes the first 2018 positive integers down in order: 1, 2, 3, ..., 2018. Then for each power of
2 that appears, he crosses out that number as well as the number 1 greater than that power of 2.
After he is done, how many numbers are not crossed out?
Solution: There are 11 powers of 2 less than 2018. These include 20 , 21 , ...., 29 , and 210 . It follows
that for each of these powers of 2, we will cross out 2 numbers. However, we will cross out 21 twice
as 21 = 20 + 1. Therefore, we will cross out 2 · 11 − 1 = 21 numbers. It follows that our answer is
2018 − 21 = 1997 .
8. The sequence 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, ... contains all positive integers that are not perfect squares. Find
the 2018th term of the sequence.
Solution: There are 44 perfect squares that are less than or equal to 2018. It follows that the
2018th term is at least 2018 + 44 = 2062. However, 452 = 2025 is between 2018 and 2062, so our
answer is actually 2063 .
9. A number is formed using the digits {2, 0, 1, 8}, using all 4 digits exactly once. Note that
0218 = 218 is a valid number that can be formed. What is the probability that the resulting
number is strictly greater than 2018?
Solution: There are 4! = 24 possible rearrangements. If the thousands digit is 8, then the resulting
number has to be greater than 2018. If the thousands digit is 2, the the number is at least equal
to 2018 and is only exactly equal in 1 case. Therefore, our answer is 2 · 3! − 1 = 11 .
10. A dice is labeled with the integers 1, 2, ..., n such that it is 2 times as likely to roll a 2 as it is
a 1, 3 times as likely to roll a 3 as it is a 1, and so on. Suppose the probability of rolling an odd
17
integer with the dice is 35 . Compute n.
Solution: Notice that the denominator of the probability of any result is 1 + 2 + · · · + n =
n(n+1)
2 . The numerator of the probability that an odd result is rolled has to be a perfect square as
1 + 3 +· · · + (2x − 1) = x2 where x is roughly half of n. Notice that if n = 2 · 17 = 34, then every
172
condition is satisfied as 34·35 = 17
35 . It follows that our answer is n = 34 .
2

11. Let S be the set of all 1000 element subsets of the set {1, 2, 3, ..., 2018}. What is the expected
value of the minimum element of a set chosen uniformly at random from S?
   
2017 2016
Solution: There are subsets with a minimum element of 1, subsets with a
999 999
minimum element of 2, and so on. It follows that the sum of the minimum elements of all subsets
is
1019          
X 2018 − n 2017 2016 2015 999
n· = +2· +3· +· · · + 1019 ·
999 999 999 999 999
n=1

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n n−1 n−2 k n+1
By the Hockey Stick Identity, we know that + + +· · · + = .
k k k k k+1
It follows that the given sum is equivalent to the sum
1019   1019
X 2019 − n 2018 2017    
X 2018 − n 1000 2019
n· = = + +· · · + =
999 1000 1000 1000 1000 1001
n=1 n=1
 
2019
 
2018 1001 2019
The total number of subsets is . It follows that our answer is  = .
1000 2018 1001
1000
12. A lattice point is a point (a, b) on the Cartesian plane where a and b are integers. Compute
the number of lattice points in the interior and on the boundary of the triangle with vertices at
(0, 0), (0, 20), and (18, 0).
Solution: Notice that there are 21 · 19 = 399 lattice points on the boundary or in the interior of
the rectangle with corners at (0, 0), (0, 20), (18, 0) and (18, 20). Roughly half of these will lie in the
given triangle. However, the points on the diagonal side of this triangle will lie in both triangles, so
we must account for that. There are 3 lattice points on the segment connecting (18, 0) and (0, 20).
It follows that our answer is 399−3
2 + 3 = 201 .
13. Three distinct points are chosen uniformly at random from the vertices of a regular 2018-gon.
What is the probability that the triangle formed by these points is a right triangle?
Solution: A triangle will be a right triangle if its longest side is one of the longest diagonals of the
regular 2018-gon. There are 1009 longest diagonals in a regular 2018-gon. There are 2016 points
which can be chosenas a third point to complete a right triangle for a total of 1009 · 2016 right
2018
triangles. There are total triangles. It follows that our answer is 1009·2016 1009·2016·6
= 2018·2017·2016 =
3 (2018
3 )

3
.
2017
14. How many ways are there to partition 11 into a sum of an odd number of odd positive integers?
Order does not matter, so 11 = 3 + 3 + 5 and 11 = 3 + 5 + 3 should be counted only once.
Solution: Doing casework on the largest numbers in our partitions, we find that the only partitions
are 11, 9+1+1, 7+3+1, 7+1+1+1+1, 5+5+1, 5+3+3, 5+3+1+1+1, 5+1+1+1+1+1+1, 3+
3+3+1+1, 3+3+1+1+1+1+1, 3+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1, 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1.
It follows that our answer is 12 .
15. A list of 2018 positive integers has a unique mode, which occurs exactly 10 times. What is the
least number of distinct values that can occur in the list?
Solution: The minimum number of distinct values will occur when most elements except the
unique mode appear in the list 9 times. This results in 1 + d 2008
9 e = 225 .

3 Sources

1. 2017 Berkeley Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 1

2. 2017 Berkeley Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 2
3. 2017 Berkeley Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 5

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4. 2017 Berkeley Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 6

5. 2017 Berkeley Math Tournament Spring Team Problem 5
6. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring General Problem 6
7. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring General Problem 9
8. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring General Problem 11
9. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 1
10. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 3
11. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring Discrete Problem 7
12. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring Team Problem 3
13. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring Team Problem 6
14. 2018 Stanford Math Tournament Spring General Tiebreaker Problem 3
15. 2018 AMC 12B Problem 10