Discrete Structures – Fall-2021 Practice Problems

Note: At least one question per topic is mandatory to be solved within class time.

Basic Counting

 (Dinner Choices). A guest at a formal dinner has 4 entrée choices and 2 dessert choices. If
a guest’s dinner is entirely determined by these two choices, then how many different
dinner choices are there?
 (Home Security). If a home security code consists of a sequence of two distinct letters (A
to Z), then how many different codes are possible? If a thief could try only 5 possible codes
every 30 minutes, then how long would it take the thief to try all possible codes?
 A 2-digit code is constructed using the digits 1, 2, 3. If the second digit is required to be at
least as large as the first digit, then how many such codes are possible? Hint: think of a tree
 (License Plates). In a state that has just under 100 million cars registered, the Department
of Motor Vehicles is considering a new requirement that license plates must consist of 3
letters (A to Z) followed by 4 digits (0 to 9). Could all of the cars registered in this state be
accommodated by this system?
 How many octal (base-8) numbers are there of length n? Note that the number is allowed
to start with zeros.
 (Rolling Dice). Three standard (6-sided) dice are rolled. One is red, one is blue, and one is
green. If the particular number showing on each colored die is important, then how many
different outcomes are possible?
 DOCE made itself famous for selling 31 flavors of ice cream. Suppose a DOCE ice cream
shop has waffle, sugar, and regular cones in sizes kiddie, small, medium, and large. How
many different ice cream cones are possible in that shop?
 A certain code is to consist of two digits (0 to 9). If the first digit is a multiple of three, then
the second digit must be even. Otherwise, the second digit must be a multiple of three. How
many such codes are possible? Why does the Multiplication Principle not apply by
considering each of the two digits as an outcome?
 A palindromic number, or palindrome, is a natural number whose digits remain the same
if the ordering of the digits is reversed. How many 6-digit numbers (leading zeros are
allowed) are palindromes? What if leading zeros are not allowed?

Permutations and Combinations

 (Listing Elements of a Set). The set S ={a, b, c, d, e} is entered into the computer (e.g.,
using Maple) by listing its elements in some order between curly braces, such as
S = {b, a, c, e, d}; Assuming that no element is listed more than once, in how many ways
might this be done?
 How many different license plates consisting of 6 distinct digits (0 to 9) are possible?
 (Jury Selection). When a jury is selected for a court case, the lawyers for both the
prosecution and the defense have opportunities to accept or reject candidates from a jury
Discrete Structures – Fall-2021 Practice Problems

pool. Suppose a jury pool contains 18 men and 16 women. How many possibilities are
there for a jury that is composed of 5 men and 7 women?
 A, B, and C have applied for a programming job at a software company. The personnel
director has asked the search committee to rank these candidates, and ties are not allowed.
How many different rankings are possible?
 A neighborhood of 40 families has agreed to have one family volunteer for each night of
the week to oversee the neighborhood watch program. In how many ways can the weekly
schedule be set?
 A computer gaming company employs 10 programmers, 6 graphics specialists, and 3
creative designers. In how many ways can a team of 4 programmers, 2 graphics specialists,
and 1 creative designer be selected to work on a new project?
 A bag contains 8 red, 4 blue, 7 green, and 5 yellow balls. A box is to be filled with 3 balls.
How many ways are there to do this so that at least two colors are used? Note that the 24
balls are considered distinguishable.
 Consider again the problem of choosing five members from a group of twelve to work as
a team on a special project. How many distinct five-person teams can be chosen?

Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion (PIE)

 A standard (6-sided) die is rolled a sequence of 5 times. In how many ways can the
sequence of numbers resulting be all even or all multiples of 3?
 How many of the integers from 500 to 5000 are divisible by 11 or 13?
 How many of the integers from 200 to 2000 are divisible by 2 or 5?
 Suppose six pairs of similar-looking boots are thrown together in a pile. How many
individual boots must you pick to be sure of getting a matched pair? Why?
 If n is a positive integer, how many integers from 0 through 2n must you pick in order to
be sure of getting at least one that is odd? at least one that is even?
 How many integers must you pick in order to be sure that at least two of them have the
same remainder when divided by 7?
 A certain college class has 40 students. All the students in the class are known to be from
17 through 34 years of age. You want to make a bet that the class contains at least x students
of the same age. How large can you make x and yet be sure to win your bet?

Binomial Theorem

 Expand the following expressions using the binomial theorem:

(𝑎 + 𝑏)5 , (𝑥 − 4𝑦)4 , (𝑥 + 1/𝑥 )4
6 2𝑛 𝑛 1 5 𝑛+3
 Compute the values of ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( )
2 2 2𝑛 1 4 2
 Find the coefficient of the given term when the expression is expanded by the
binomial theorem.
𝑥 5 𝑦 3 in (𝑥 + 𝑦)9 , 𝑥 7 in (2𝑥 + 3)10
Discrete Structures – Fall-2021 Practice Problems

 Express each of the following in terms of a detail equation:

𝑛 𝑛
∑5𝑘=0 ( ) 5𝑘 , ∑5𝑘=0 ( ) 1/2𝑘
𝑘 𝑘


Generalized Counting

 Consider various ways of ordering the letters in the word MISSISSIPPI. How many
distinguishable orderings are there?
 How many solutions are there to the equation 𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑥3 + 𝑥4 = 10 if 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 , 𝑥4 are
nonnegative integers?
 How many solutions are there to the equation 𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑥3 + 𝑥4 = 10 if 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 , 𝑥4 are
≥ 1?
 A bakery produces six different kinds of pastry, one of which is eclairs. Assume there are
at least 20 pastries of each kind.
o How many different selections of twenty pastries are there?
o How many different selections of twenty pastries are there if at least three must be
eclairs?
o How many different selections of twenty pastries contain at most two eclairs?