Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph

Theory
Chapter 1

Fikre Bogale

Addis Ababa University

Mathematics Department

September 22, 2024

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1

Outline

Outline
1 Introduction
2 Basic counting principle
3 Permutation and Combinations

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Introduction

Combinatory
Combinatory, the study of arrangement of objects, is an
important branch of discrete mathematics.

Combinatory analysis is concerned with the methods and

principles of counting the number of possible outcomes of
some events without listing them.

Enumeration, the counting of objects with certain properties,

is an important part of combinatorics.

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Introduction

Counting problems arise throughout mathematics, statistics

and computer science.

For example:
1 How many four digit identity number can we create?
2 How many four digit password can we create using
numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4?
3 How many possible license plate can exist in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia?
4 In tossing a die twice, how many possible outcomes can
occur?

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Introduction

We can solve the above problems using counting rules. The

basic rules of counting can solve a tremendous variety of
problems in mathematics and computer science.

We will see an efficient way of counting large masses of

statistical data.
The techniques we develop in this section will enable us to
count

the number of ways to perform different tasks,

the number of samples space of an experiment,
the number possible outcomes of an event.

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Sample Space, Event

Sample Space
Sample Space is the set of all possible outcomes of some
given experiment and is denoted by S.
Eg. Experiment: tossing a coin.

S = {H, T }

Event
Event(E) is a set of desired outcomes of an experiment.
Eg. The following are two events of the above experiment

E1 = {T } E2 = {H}

An element of a sample space is called a sample point.

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Combined Events
We can combine events to form new events using set
operations:

Let E1 and E2 be two events:

1 E1 ∪ E2 is the event that either E1 or E2 occurs (or both)
2 E1 ∩ E2 is the event that both E1 and E2 occurs.
3 E1c , the complement of E1 , is the event that occurs if E1
does not occur.

Definition
Two events E1 and E2 are called mutually exclusive if they are
disjoint.
i.e E1 ∩ E2 = ∅, E1 and E2 are mutually exclusive if they
cannot occur simultaneously(or at the same time).
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Introduction

Example 1
Experiment: Toss a die and observe the number that appears
on the top. Then find
1 the sample space S,
2 the event E1 that an even number occurs,
3 the event E2 that an odd number occurs,
4 the event E3 that a prime number occurs.

Notation
The number of outcomes of event E is denoted by n(E ).

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Basic counting principle

We will present two basic counting principles, the Addition

rule and Product rule.
Addition Rule
Let E1 and E2 be mutually exclusive events. Then the number
of outcomes either event E1 or E2 will occur given by

n(E1 ∪ E2 ) = n(E1 ) + n(E2 )

Example
In how many ways a no can be choose from 1 to 22 such that
1 it is a multiple of 3 or 8.
2 it is a multiple of 4 or 7.

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Basic counting principle

If we have two mutually exclusive tasks, T1 and T2 (tasks can

not be accomplished simultaneously)
Modified Addition rule
If a first task T1 can be performed in n(T1 ) = n1 ways, while a
second task T2 can be performed in n(T2 ) = n2 ways, and the
two tasks (T1 and T2 ) can not be accomplished
simultaneously, then either task T1 or T2 can be performed in:

n(T1 ∪ T2 ) = n(T1 ) + n(T2 ) = n1 + n2 ways

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Basic counting principle

Example
Suppose there are 4 male and 3 female instructors teaching
calculus in AAU. In how many ways can a student choose a
calculus instructor in order to take the course?

Solution
The student faced with two tasks and he/she is forced to
perform either.
n(M) = 3 and n(F ) = 4 number of ways to perform the first
or second task respectively.
By Addition rule, the student can perform the task in,
n(M ∪ F ) = n(M) + n(F ) = 7 ways.

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Basic counting principle

Generalized Addition Rule

Suppose tasks E1 , E2 , · · · Ek can be performed in n1 , n2 , · · · nk
ways respectively.If no two of the tasks can be performed at
the same time, then the number of ways in which any one of
tasks E1 , E2 , · · · or Ek can be performed is:
k
[ 
n Ei = n(E1 ) + n(E2 ) · · · + n(Ek )
i=1
= n1 + n2 + · · · + nk

Example
In how many ways we can select a number from 1 to 34 which
is a multiple of 5, 7 or 11.
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Basic counting principle

Product rule
If a task consists of two separate sub-tasks E and F . If the
first sub-task E can be performed in n(E ) = n1 ways and the
second sub-task F can be performed in n(F ) = n2 ways, then
the entire task can be performed in:

n(E ) × n(F ) = n1 n2 ways

Example
How many two digit numerals can be formed using the
numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 so that
1 no number is repeated?
2 number is repeated?
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Basic counting principle

Generalized Product rule

If a task consists of k separate sub-tasks E1 , E2 · · · and Ek . If
the sub-tasks E1 , E2 · · · and Ek can be performed in n1 , n2 · · ·
and nk ways respectively, then the entire task can be
performed in:

n(E1 ) × n(E2 ) × · · · × n(Ek ) = n1 n2 · · · nk ways

Example
Suppose a restaurant menu offers a choice of three appetizer,
five main dishes, four desserts, and three beverage. In how
many ways one can order a meal consisting a appetizer, a
main dish, dessert and a beverage?

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Summary of Addition and Product rules

Example
Suppose a college has 3 different history courses, 4 different
literature courses, and 2 different sociology courses. Then find
1 the number n of ways a student can choose just one of
the courses,
2 the number m of ways a student can choose one of each
kind of courses

Solution
1 We have to use the addition rule,
n = 3 + 4 + 2 = 9 ways
2 We have to use the product rule,
m = 3(4)(2) = 24 ways
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations

Introduction
Many counting problems can be solved by finding the number
of ways to arrange a specified number of distinct elements of a
set of a particular size, where the order of the elements
matters and does not matter.

For Example
1 In how many ways can we select three students from a
group of five students to stand in line for a picture.
2 How many different committees of three students can be
formed from a group of five students

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations

Permutation
An arrangement of a set of n objects in a given order is called
permutation of the objects (taken all at a time).

r-permutations
An arrangement of any r ≤ n objects in a given order is called
an r −permutation or a permutation of n objects taken r at a
time.

Notation
The number of permutation of n objects taken r at a time
denoted by P(n, r ), nPr ,n Pr or P(nr ).

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations

Example
Consider the set of letters A, B, C and D.
1 ABCD, DCBA, ACDB, · · · are permutation of 4 letters
(taken all at a time)
2 ABC , ACD, BCD, · · · are permutations of the 4 letters
taken 3 at a time.(3−permutation)
3 AB, BC , CD, · · · are permutations of the 4 letters taken 2
at a time.(2-permutation)

Theorem
For a non-negative integers n and r ,
n!
P(n, r ) = = n(n − 1)(n − 2) · · · (n − r + 1)
(n − r )!
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations
Preposition 1(Permutations without repeating objects)
The number of permutations of n different objects taken r at
n!
a time is P(n, r ) =
(n − r )!

Corollary
There are n! permutations of n objects (taken all at a time).

Example
1 Find the number of permutations of 6 objects taken all at
a time.
2 In how many ways can we select three students from a
group of five students to stand in line for a picture?
3 In how many ways can three prizes be given for 100
athletes in a race? 19/43
Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations

Preposition 2(Permutations with objects repeated)

The number of r −permutations of n different objects with
repetition is
n × n × · · · × n = nr

Example
1 How many positive number less than 100 can be formed
using 1, 2, 3?
2 A multiple-choice test has 100 questions with four
possible answers(A, B, C or D) for each question. How
many different sets of 100 answers are possible
3 In how many ways can three awards be given to 50
artists, when each artist is eligible for all awards?
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations

Permutations with Repetitions(Distinguishable Permutations)

In this case, we consider permutations of objects some of
which are alike,

Example
The permutations of 7 letters in the word MISSISSIPPI

Preposition 3(Permutations with alike objects)

The number of permutations of n objects of which n1 are
alike, n2 are alike,· · · nr are alike is
n!
n1 !n2 ! · · · nr !
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutation and Combinations
Example
1 Find the number of distinguishable permutations of the
letters in the word MISSISSIPPI.
2 How many distinct words of length 6 could be formed
using the letters of the word ADIDAS.
3 How many distinct arrangement we can perform using 4
green, 3 yellow and 2 red balls.

Solution
1 n = 11, n1 = 4, n2 = 4 and n3 = 2, then we can form
11!
distinct words.
11!4!4!2!
6!
2 n = 6, n1 = 2 and n2 = 2, then we can form distinct
2!2!
words.
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Permutation and Combinations
Linear arrangements discussed so far, is different from circular.
Example
If three persons invited for dinner they may sit in a row in 6
different ways.
The answer would be different if the gusts were to be seated
around a circular table, which is exactly in 2 different ways.

comparison
Linear Permutation Circular Permutation

ABC, BCA, CAB

ACB, CBA, BAC

Circular Permutations 23/43

Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations

Circular Permutations
The number of permutations of n objects around a circle,
taken altogether, is given by (n − 1)!

Example
1 In how many different ways can six ladies be seated at a
round table?
2 In how many ways can four boys and four girls be seated
at a round table for conference so that no two ladies sit
together?

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Permutations and Combinations
There are many problems that require us to make a selection
of r objects from the set of n objects without any regard of
the ”order”.
In a permutation, order is taken into consideration, while in
combination problems; the order is of no significance.
Definition
Any subset of r objects selected with complete disregard to
their order from a collection of n different objects is called an
r −combination of the n objects or a combination of n objects
taken r at a time.
Notation
The number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time
n!
denoted by C (n, r ), nCr or (nr ) and equal to .
(n − r )!r !
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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Example

Consider the letters A, B, C and D. Compare the

3-permutation and 3−combinations of the four letters.
3−Combinations 3−Permutation
ABC ABC, CBA, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB
ABD ABD, ADB, BAD, BDA, DAB, DBA
ACD ACD, ADC, CAD, CDA, DAC, DCA
BCD BCD, BDC, CBD, CDB, DBC, DCB

We can see that the number of combinations multiplied by 3!

is the number of permutations.
Theorem
P(n, r ) = n!C (n, r )

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Example
1 How many committees of three can be formed from eight
people.
2 In how many ways can 11 players be chosen from a group
of 13 players if
1 the players are selected at random?
2 a particular player must be included?
3 a particular player must be excluded?
3 A committee of two Republicans and two Democrats is to
be selected from seven Republicans and nine Democrats.
In how many ways can the committee be formed?

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Permutations and Combinations

Solutions
8!
1 C (8, 3) = = 56 ways
3!5!
2 We are asked to select 11 player from 13 players,
13!
1 C (13, 11) = = 78 ways
11!2!
12!
2 C (12, 10) = = 66 ways
10!2!
12!
3 C (12, 11) = = 12 ways
11!
3 We have two sub-tasks, selecting Republicans and two
Democrats
7! 9!
C (7, 2)C (9, 2) = × = 756 ways
5!2! 2!7!
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Permutation and Combination

Complementary Combinations
Two combinations C (n, r ) and C (n, s) are said to be
complementary combinations if r + s = n.

Example
1 C (5, 3) and C (5, 2) are complementary combinations.
2 C (n, r ) and C (n, n − r ) are complementary combinations.

Remarks
Two complementary combinations are equal. That is
(nr ) = (nn−r )
A finite set with n−elements has (nr ) subsets each with
r −elements.
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The Binomial Theorem
The quantities (nr ) are called binomial coefficients in the
expansion of positive integral powers of (x + y )n , where
n ∈ N0 .
Example
1 (x + y )2 = x 2 + 2xy + y 2
2 (x + y )3 = x 3 + 3x 2 y + 3xy 2 + y 3
3 (x + y )4 = x 4 + 4x 3 y + 6x 2 y 2 + 4xy 3 + y 4

The Binomial Theorem

If n and r are non-negative integers, where r ≤ n, then

(x + y )n = (n0 )x n + (n1 )x n−1 y + (n2 )x n−2 y 2 + · · · + (nn )y n

X n
= (nj )x n−j y j
j=0
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The Binomial Theorem
Corollary 1
(1 + y )n = (n0 ) + (n1 )y + (n2 )y 2 + (n3 )y 3 + · · · + (nn )y n

Corollary 2
Let n be non-negative integer, then
n
X
n
2 = (nj )
j=0

Corollary 3
Let n be non-negative integer, then
n
X
n
3 = (nj )2j
j=0 31/43
Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
The Binomial Theorem

Example
1 Find the expansion of (x + y )5 .
2 Find the expansion of (x + 2y )4 .
3 What is the coefficient of x 12 y 13 in the expansion of
(x + y )25 .
4 What is the coefficient of x 6 y 3 in the expansion of
(2x − 3y )9

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The Binomial Theorem

Solution
5
(x + y )5 = (5j )x 5−j y j
P
1

j=0
4
(x + 2y )4 = (4j )x 4−j (2y )j
P
2

j=0
25!
3 It is C (25, 12) or (25
13 ) =
12!13!
4 The coefficient is (96 )(2)6 (−3)3

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

In this section we will develop and state a new counting

technique called the Inclusion-Exclusion principle.

This technique is applicable if the events(tasks) are not

mutually exclusive (can occur at the same time).
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle
Let A, B and C be any finite sets. Then:
1 n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B) − n(A ∩ B)
2 n(A ∪ B ∪ C ) = n(A) + n(B) + n(C ) − n(A ∩ B)
−n(A ∩ C ) − n(B ∩ C ) + n(A ∩ B ∩ C )

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The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

Inclusion-Exclusion

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The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

Example
1 How many positive integers not exceeding 1000 are
divisible by 7 or 11.
2 Suppose that in a group of 100 students; 50 taking maths
(M), 40 taking computer science (C), 35 taking
information science (I), 12 taking M and C, 10 taking M
and I, 11 taking C and I and 5 taking all.
1 How many students are taking at least one subject.
2 How many students taking none of the subjects.

Solution
1 n(A∪B) = b1000/7c+b1000/11c−b1000/LCM(7, 11)c =
142 + 90 − 12 = 220
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Pigeonhole Principle

Suppose that a flock of 13 pigeons flies into a set of 12

pigeonholes to rest.
At least one of these 12 pigeonholes must have at least two
pigeons in it.

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Pigeonhole Principle

The Pigeonhole Principle

If k is a positive integer and k + 1 or more objects are placed
into k boxes, then there is at least one box containing two or
more of the objects.

Example 1
1 Among any group of 367 people, there must be at least
two with the same birthday.
2 In any group of 27 English words, there must be at least
two that begin with the same letter.
3 How many students must be in a class to guarantee that
at least two students receive the same score on the final
exam, if the exam is graded on a scale 0 to 100 points?
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Pigeonhole Principle
The Generalized Pigeonhole Principle
If N objects are placed into k boxes, then there is at least one
box containing at least dN/ke objects.

Remark
If dN/ke = r , then N = k(r − 1) + 1

Example 1
1 Among 100 people at least how many people were born in
the same month.
2 What is the minimum number of students required in a
discrete mathematics class to be sure that at least six will
receive the same grade, if there are five possible grades,
A, B, C , D and F ?
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Pigeonhole Principle

Solution
1 Since there are 12 months as a boxes. Then at least

d100/12e = 9 people were born in the same month.

2 Let N be the minimum number students required. Then

dN/5e = 6
N = 5(6 − 1) + 1 = 26

∴ 26 minimum number of students required.

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Fikre Bogale Introduction to Combinatorics and Graph Theory Chapter 1
Summary
Basic Counting Principle
Addition Rule

n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B)

Product Rule

n(T ) = n(T1 ) × n(T2 )

Permutation
Permutation:- arrangement of objects where order has
effect.
Repeated objects
Non-Repeated objects
Arrangement with alike objects
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Summary

Combination
Combinations:- arrangement of objects where order
doesn’t matter.
To find the number of subsets with specific number of
elements.
To find the coefficients of terms in binomial expansion

inclusion-exclusion principle
We have to apply this technique when the sets are not disjoint.

Pigeonhole principle
If we have k + 1 or more objects to place them into k boxes,
we have to apply this method.

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End

End

End of Chapter One!

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