Combinatorics

LECTURE - 01

By Suraj Sir
 Fundamental principle of Counting

 If an event A can occur in 'm' different ways and another event B can occur in
'n' different ways, then the total number of different ways of.
 Multiplication principle
simultaneous occurrence of both events in a definite order is m×n. This can be
extended to any number of events (known as multiplication principle).
 Addition principle
happening exactly one of the events is m+n. (known as addition principle).
Q. There are 4 ways to go from delhi to Mumbai & 3 ways to go from Mumbai to
Goa. How many ways are there to travel from
a. Delhi to GoaVia Mumbai Delhi Mumbai Goa

b. Leave from Mumbai

Q. In a question paper consisting of 10 T/F questions, number of ways to attempt if
a. No restriction
b. Attempt all questions
c. All correct
Q. Number of unsuccessful attempts of
a. Number lock consisting of 4 rings
b. Pattern lock consisting of 9 dots.
(connect all dots)
Q. Starting from any of the N’s the word NAMAN can be
spelled bye moving either up, down left or right to an N
adjacent letter. If the same letter may be used twice in each N A N
spell, how many different ways are there to spell the word
NAMAN? N A M A N
N A N
N
 Formation of Numbers
Q. Number of 5 digit Numbers that can be formed using 0,1,2,3,4,5
No restrictions
Repetition allowed Repetition not allowed

b. Even numbers
Repetition allowed Repetition not allowed

c. Divisible by 3 ( Repetition not allowed)

d. Divisible by 4 ( Repetition not allowed)

Q. Total numbers less than 7000 which can be formed using the digits 0,1,3,7,9

Q. 4 digit numbers greater than 4321 using digits 0,1,2,3,4,5 (repetition allowed)

Q. 6 digit numbers that can be formed using 0,1,2,5,7,9 which are divisible by 11 &
no digit is repeated
 Formation of Words
Q. Number of words that can be formed using all the letters of the word ‘SURAJ’
a. No restrictions

b. Starts with ‘S’

c. Starts with the vowel

d. Ends with a consonant

e. Vowel occupy even places

f. Even places must be occupy by consonants

g. 4 letter words each starts with ‘S’

h. Relative order of consonants and vowels are same

 PERMUTATION & COMBINATION:
(a)Permutation: Permutation means arrangement in a definite order of things which may
be alike or different taken some or all at a time.
Permutation refers to situation where order of occurrence of all events are important.
Note : (i) nPn=n!, nP0=1, nP1=n.
(ii) Number of arrangements of n distinct things taken all at a time n!.
(iii) nPn is also denoted by P(n, r).

(b) Combination: Combination means Selection of one or more things out of n things
which may be alike or different taken some or all at a time.
Combination refers to a situation where order of occurrence of event is not important

Note 1 : Number of ways of arranging ‘r’ different things in a line is n!

Note 2 : (i) Number of ways of selecting ‘r’ things out of ’n’ things = nCr
(ii) Number of ways of permutation of ‘r’ things out of ‘n’ things = nPr
Q. Number of ways in which 6 seats can be occupied by 10 persons

Q. Given 5 flags of different colours, how many different signals can be generated if
each signal can be generated by use of any number of flags one below the other.

Q. 4 socks are selected out of 5 different pairs, number of ways in which selected socks
has
a. Exactly 1 pair

b. Exactly 2 pair

c. No complete pair
Q. A dice is rolled 3 times and top most face is considered as outcome, then the
number of outcome such that
a. 6 appears at least once

b. All three outcomes are different

c. Exactly 2 outcomes are same

Note 1 : The number of permutation of n different objects taken r at a time, when p
particular objects are always to be included is r!.n-pCr-p

Note 2 : The number of permutations of n different objects taken r at a time, when

repetition is allowed any number of times is nr.

Note 3 : The number of combinations of n different things taking r at a time.

(i) When p particular things are always to be included =n-pCr-p.

(ii) when p particular things are always to be excluded =n-pCr .

(iii) when p particular things are always to be included and q particular things are to be
excluded =n-p-qCr-p.
Q. Number of ways in which cricket team of 11 players can be selected from 20 players
consisting of 13 batsmen, 7 bowlers & no all rounder
a. No restriction

b. 2 particular players are always selected

c. 3 particular players are always excluded

d. 7 batsmen & 4 blowers

e. 2 particular players do not play together

f. Team consists of at-least 5 bowlers

g. At least 4 bowlers in which 2 bowlers never play together

 String and Gap method
Q. Number of ways in which 7 different colours of rainbow be arranged such that
green and orange are
a. Always together

b. Never together
Q. 4 Boys & 4 Girls are to be seated in a line then then
a. Number of ways they can be seated so that ‘No two girls are together’ ( or girls are
separated)

b. Not all the girls are together or at least one girl is separated from the rest of the girls

c. Boys and girls are alternate or boys as well as girls are separated or each boy follows
the girl and each girl follows the boy

d. Boys & girls are alternate and a particular Boy & Girl are never adjacent to each other
in any arrangement

e. If they are 4 married couples then the number of ways if each couple is together
Permutation Of Alike Objects :
Number of permutation of ‘n’ things where ‘p’ things are alike of one
kind, ‘q’ things are alike of second kind , ‘r’ things are alike of third kind
and rest all are different taken all at time = ___n!__
p! q! r
Q. Number of words that can be formed using the letters of the
word ‘ASSASSINATION’
a. No restriction

b. Word end with ‘A’

c. Word start with ‘S’

d. Word starting with vowel

e. All vowels are together

f. No two vowels are consecutive

g. No two ‘S’ occur together

h. Without changing order of vowel

Q. 8 clay targets are arranged as shown. Then umber of ways they can be
shot(one at time) if no target can be shot until target(s) below it have been
shot.
Q. Number of ways in which 10 students A1, A2,……….,A10 can be ranked from 1 to 10
such that rank of A1 is greater than rank of A10

Q. Number of words using the letters of word ‘SURAJ’ so that vowels are in alphabetical
order

Q. Speech of 5 politicians A, B,C,D,E are arranged the number of ways in which

a. A speaks before B
b. A speaks before B & B speaks before C
c. A speaks before B & C

Q. Find the rank of the word ‘MOTHER’ and ‘CORONA’ in english dictionary.
(Dictionary is made using the letter of word only.)
Q. Number of four letter words that can be formed using the letter
of word ‘MATHEMATICS’
 Geometrical use of nCr
1. There are 10 points in a plane out if which 4 are collinear Number of
a. straight lines. b. Triangles

2. In a 10 sided polygon, triangle is formed by joining the vertices of a polygon then a

number of triangles formed
(I)
a. No restrictions

b. 1 side common with the side of polygon

c. Exactly 2 sides are common

d. At least one side is common

e. No side is common

(II) Number of diagonals

(III) Number of points of intersection of diagonals if no three diagonals are concurrent.

Q. Maximum number of point of intersection of 8 Lines and 4 Circles in a plane

Q. Number of parallelograms that can be formed from a set of 4 parallel lines

intersecting another pair of 5 parallel lines

Q. In a chess board of dimensions 8x 8 , the number of

a) Rectangle
b) Square

Q. Number of ways in which we can choose 12 unit square from 5x5 chess board
so that no 2 squares have a side in common
 Circular Permutation :
Number of ways to arrange ‘n’ different object in a Circle or around a table is (n – 1)!
If clockwise and anticlockwise orientation do not matter, then number of ways will be
(n - 1)!
2
Q. Number of ways in which 5 boys and 3 girls are seated on a round table
a. No restrictions

b. All girls are together c. All girls are separated

Q. Number of ways in which a 10 distinct flowers can be strung to form a garland, so

that 4 particular flowers are never separated.

Q. Number of ways in which 5 boys and 5 girls can be seated on a circle alternately, if
a particular B1 & G1 never adjacent to each other in any arrangement .
Q. 3 boys A, B, C and 3 girls X,Y,Z are seated on a round table such that A does not
want to sit with any girl neighbour, and X does not want to sit with any boy
neighbour .

Q. A host invites 10 people in a party, there is a circular table consisting of 15 chairs.

The number of ways in which they can sit on a round table, so that seats adjacent to
host are non empty.
Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion
Q. Number of numbers from 1 to 1000 divisible by 2 or 3 or 5.

Q. Number of words that can be formed using the letters of word ‘SURAJ’ which
neither begin with S nor end with J.

Q. Number of words that can be formed using the letters of word ‘GOOGLE’ such
that not 2 alike objects are together.
Q. We will say that a rearrangement of the letters of a word has no fixed letters if,
when the rearrangement is placed directly below the word, no column has the same
letter repeated. For instance H B R A T A is rearrangement with no fixed letters of
B H A R A T. How many distinguishable rearrangements with no fixed letters does
B H A R A T have? (The two A’s are considered identical)
 U U
Q. Let A, B, C are subsets of X = { 1, 2,3, ….n } such that A B C = O
U U
A B = O ,B C = O . The number of triplets A, B, C is
Q. Let S = { 1,2, …, n} and let T be the set of all ordered triples of subsets of S, say
(A1, A2, A3), such that A1 U A2 U A3 = S determine in terms of n
U U
A1 A2 A3
THANK YOU