Lesson 190 : Combinatorics and counting methods

March 4, 2022

1 Basic counting Proposition 3 If 0 ≤ k ≤ n, n

k


= n!
k!(n−k)!
and Akn = n!
(n−k)!
.

1.1 Set operations

Example 2 There are 60 anagrams of the word ANANAS.
Proposition 1 Let A and B be two finite sets. Then
Proposition 4 Let A be a commutative ring, a, b ∈ A and n ∈
• if A ∩ B = ∅ then |A ∪ B| = |A| + |B|. N. Then n  
n
X n k n−k
• |A × B| = |A||B|. (a + b) = a b .
k=0
k
• |A ∪ B| = |A| + |B| − |A ∩ B|.
Proposition 5 If n ∈ N then
Example 1 There are 775 numbers with 3 digits and at least one n  2  
n 2n
even digit.
X
= .
k=0
k n
Proposition 2 |A| = |B| if and only if there is a bijection be-
tween A and B.
1.3 Inclusion-exclusion and pigeonhole principles
Application 1 |P(A)| = 2 . |A|
Theorem 1 (Inclusion-exclusion principle) Let
A1 , . . . , An be finite sets. Then
1.2 Permutations and combinations
n
X X
Definition 1 Let n, k ∈ N. We denote by nk or Cnk the number


|A1 ∪ . . . ∪ An | = (−1)k+1 |Ai1 ∩ . . . ∩ Aik |.
of ways to choose k elements in a set of n elements. We denote by k=1 1≤i1 <...<ik ≤n
Akn the number of ways to choose a permutation of k elements in
a set of n elements.

1
 Application 2 There are n! nk=0
P (−1)k
derangements - fixed- Definition 2 (Möbius function) The Möbius function µ :
k!
points-free permutations - in Sn . N −→ {−1, 0, 1} is defined by

0 if n is not square-free.

Theorem 2 (Pigeonhole principle) If n items are put µ(n) =
(−1)r if n = p1 . . . pr with pi distinct primes.
into m containers with n > m, then at least one container must
contain more than one item.
Theorem 4 (Möbius Pinversion formula) If f, g : N −→
2 More advanced tools C are such that g(n) = d|n f (d) for all n ∈ N, then ∀ n ∈ N,
n
2.1 Group action f (n) =
X
µ(d)g .
d
d|n
Proposition 6 Let G be a group acting on a finite set X. Let
G · x1 , . . . , G · xr be the orbits, and Gxi = {g ∈ G | g · xi = xi } be
the stabilizer of xi , 1 ≤ i ≤ r. Then
Application 5 Let P φ be the Euler’s totient function. Then for
r
X r
X |G| all n ∈ N, φ(n) = n d|n d .
µ(d)

|X| = |G · xi | = .
i=1 i=1
|Gxi |
Theorem 5 Let n ∈ N⋆ and X, Y two independant random vari-
ables uniformly distributed on {1, . . . , n}. Let pn be the probability
Application 3 The center of a p-group is non trivial. that X and Y are coprime. Then pn −→ π62 .
n→∞

Theorem 3 (Burnside) For g ∈ G we define Fix(g) := {x ∈

X | g · x = x}. Using the same notation as in Proposition 6, 2.3 Fixed points of a permutation
1 X
r= |Fix(g)|. Lemma 1 Let A be a finite set and f : A −→ A an involution. If
|G| g∈G
|A| is odd then A has a fixed point.

Application 4 With 2 red beads, 2 blue beads and 2 green Application 6 Let a be an odd positive integer. There are no
beads we can form 11 different bracelets. functions f : N⋆ −→ N⋆ such that f (f (n)) = n + a for all n ∈ N⋆ .

2.2 Möbius function Theorem 6 Let p = 1 mod 4 be a prime number. Then p is a

sum of two squares.

2
3 Generating functions 4 Graph theory
3.1 Definition and how to use it Definition 4 A graph G is a pair (V, E) where the elements of
E are 2-element subsets of V . The elements of V are the vertices
Definition 3 Let (an )n∈N ∈ CNPbe a sequence. The generating of the graph and the elements of E are its edges.
function of this sequence is t 7−→ ∞
n=0 an t .
n

Theorem 9 (Mantel) The maximal number of edges in a

Proposition 7 Let (an )n∈N ∈ CN be a sequence and f its gen- 2
triangle-free graph on n vertices is ⌊ n4 ⌋.
erating function. If the radius of convergence of f is nonzero then
(n)
for all n ∈ N, an = f n!(0) .
Application 8 In a party with 20 persons where two friends
Method 1 From an recurrence relation on the sequence an we have never a mutual friend, there are at most 100 pairs of friends.
can deduce a differential equation on its generating function. Solv-
ing this equation then gives us access to the terms an . Definition 5 The complete graph on n vertices is the graph
Kn = ({1, . . . , n}, P2 ({1, . . . , n})), so it is the graph on n vertices
Application 7 The number of involutions in the symmetric with all possible edges.
group Sn is
⌊n/2⌋
X n! Theorem 10 (Ramsey) Let r ∈ N. There exists N = N (r) ∈
In = .
k
2 k!(n − 2k)! N such that for all n ≥ N and any coloring of the edges of Kn with
k=0
r colors we can find a monochromatic triangle.

3.2 Number of partitions Application 9 In a group of at least 6 persons there either 3

Theorem 7 Denote by Bn the number of partitions of the set mutual friends or 3 mutual strangers.
{1, . . . , n}, with the convention B0 = 1. Then
∞
Lemma 2 (Schur) Let r ∈ N. There exists N = N (r) ∈ N
1 X kn such that for any coloring of the integers of {1, . . . , N } with r colors
Bn = .
e k=0 k! we can find a monochromatic triple {x, y, z} such that x + y = z.

Theorem 11 Let n ∈ N. For any large enough prime number p

Theorem 8 Let (a1 , . . . , ap ) ∈ (N⋆ )p be coprime integers. De-
there exists a non trivial solution X, Y, Z to the equation
note by un the number of solutions (x1 , . . . , xp ) ∈ Np to the equa-
tion a1 x1 + . . . + ap xp = n. Then Xn + Y n = Zn mod p
p−1
1 n
un ∼ . .
n→∞ a1 . . . ap (p − 1)!