Exercise 4

1. A group of 102 students took examinations in Chinese, English and

Mathematics. Among them, 92 passed Chinese, 75 English and 63
Mathematics; at most 65 passed Chinese and English, at most 54 Chinese
and Mathematics, and at most 48 English and Mathematics. Find the
largest possible number of the students that could have passed all the three
subjects.
2. (a) Let A, B and C be finite sets. Show that
(i) | ∩ B| = |B| – |A ∩ B|;
(ii) | ∩ ∩ C| = |C| – |A ∩ C| – |B ∩ C| + |A ∩ B ∩ C|.
(b) Find the number of integers in the set {1, 2, . . . , 103} which are not
divisible by 5 nor by 7 but are divisible by 3.
3. Find the number of integers in the set {1, 2, . . . , 120} which are divisible
by exactly ‘m’ of the integers: 2, 3, 5, 7, where m = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. Find also
the number of primes which do not exceed 120.
4. How many positive integers n are there such that n is a divisor of at least
one of the numbers 1040, 2030? (Putnam 1983)
5. Find the number of positive divisors of at least one of the numbers: 1060,
2050, 3040.
6. Find the number of integers in each of the following sets which are not of
the form n2 or n3, where n ∈ N:
(i) {1, 2, . . . , 104},
(ii) {103, 103 + 1, . . . , 104}.
7. Prove Theorem 4.2.1 by
(a) induction on q;
(b) Corollary 2 to Theorem 4.3.1.
 8. A year is a leap year if it is either (i) a multiple of 4 but not a multiple of
100, or (ii) a multiple of 400. For example, 1600 and 1924 were leap years
while 2200 will not be. Find the number of leap years between 1000 and
3000 inclusive.
9. Each of n boys attends a school gathering with both of his parents. In how
many ways can the 3n people be divided into groups of three such that
each group contains a boy, a male parent and a female parent, and no boy
is with both of his parents in his group?
10. A man has 6 friends. At dinner in a certain restaurant, he has met each of
them 12 times, every two of them 6 times, every three of them 4 times,
every four of them 3 times, every five twice and all six only once. He has
dined out 8 times without meeting any of them. How many times has he
dined out altogether?
11. Three identical black balls, four identical red balls and five identical white
balls are to be arranged in a row. Find the number of ways that this can be
done if all the balls with the same colour do not form a single block.
12. How many arrangements of a, a, a, b, b, b, c, c, c are there such that
(i) no three consecutive letters are the same?
(ii) no two consecutive letters are the same?
13. Find the number of shortest routes from corner X to corner Y in the
following rectangular grid if the segments AB, BC and BD are all deleted.

14. Find the number of integer solutions to the equation

where 3 ≤ x1 ≤ 9, 0 ≤ x2 ≤ 8 and 7 ≤ x3 ≤ 17.

15. Find the number of integer solutions to the equation
 where 6 ≤ x1 ≤ 15, 5 ≤ x2 ≤ 20 and 10 ≤ x3 ≤ 25.
16. Find the number of integer solutions to the equation

where 1 ≤ x1 ≤ 5, 0 ≤ x2 ≤ 7, 4 ≤ x3 ≤ 8 and 2 ≤ x4 ≤ 6.
17. Let k, n, r ∈ N. Show that the number of integer solutions to the equation

such that 0 ≤ xi ≤ k for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n is given by

18. Let k, n, r ∈ N. Show that the number of integer solutions to the equation

such that 1 ≤ xi ≤ k for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n is given by

19. Find the number of ways of arranging n couples {Hi, Wi}, i = 1, 2, . . . , n,

in a row such that Hi is not adjacent to Wi for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n.
20. Let p, q ∈ N with p odd and q > 1. There are pq beads of q different
colours: 1, 2, . . . , q with exactly p beads in each colour. Assuming that
beads of the same colour are identical, in how many ways can these beads
be put in a string in such a way that
(i) beads of the same colour must be in a single block?
(ii) beads of the same colour must be in two separated blocks?
(iii) beads of the same colour must be in at most two blocks?
(iv) beads of the same colour must be in at most two blocks and the size of
each block must be at least 2?
21. (a) Find the number of ways of distributing r identical objects into n
distinct boxes such that no box is empty, where r ≥ n.
(b) Show that
 where r, n ∈ N with r ≥ n.
22. (a) Let B be a subset of A with |A| = n and |B| = m. Find the number of r-
element subsets of A which contain B as a subset, where m ≤ r ≤ n.
(b) Show that for m, r, n ∈ N with m ≤ r ≤ n,

23. (a) For n ∈ N, find the number of binary sequences of length n which do
not contain “01” as a block.
(b) Show that

24. In each of the following configurations, each vertex is to be coloured by

one of the λ different colours. It how many ways can this be done if any
two vertices which are joined by a line segment must be coloured by
different colours?

25. n persons are to be allocated to q distinct rooms. Find the number of ways
that this can be done if only m of the q rooms have exactly k persons each,
where 1 ≤ m ≤ q and qk ≤ n.
26. Suppose that A = {k⋅x1, k⋅x2, . . . , k⋅xn} is a multiset, where k, n ∈ N. For m
∈ N* with m ≤ n, let α(m) denote the number of ways to arrange the
members of A in a row such that the number of blocks containing all the k
elements of the same type in the arrangement is exactly m. Show that
27. Prove identities (4.6.2)–(4.6.7).
([HSW]; for (4.6.7), see E. T. H. Wang, E2947, Amer. Math. Monthly, 89
(1982), 334.)
28. For n ∈ N, let Cn denote the number of permutations of the set {1, 2, . . . ,
n} in which k is never followed immediately by k + 1 for each k = 1, 2, . . .
, n − 1.
(i) Find Cn;
(ii) Show that Cn = Dn + Dn−1 for each n ∈ N.
29. Let m, n ∈ N with m < n. Find, in terms of Dk’s, the number of
derangements a1, a2, . . . , an of Nn such that

30. Let m, n ∈ N with n ≥ 2m. Find the number of derangements a1, a2, . . . , an
of Nn such that

in each of the following cases:

(i) n = 2m;
(ii) n = 2m + 1;
(iii) n = 2m + r, r ≥ 2.
31. Apply identity (4.6.8) to prove identities (4.6.10) and (4.6.11).
32. Given n ∈ N, show that Dn is even iff n is odd.
33. Let Dn(k) = D(n, n, k). Show that
(i) Dn(k) = Dn−k;
(ii) D0 + D1 + + Dn = n!, where D0 = 1;
(iii) (k + 1) Dn+1(k + 1) = (n + 1) Dn(k).
34. Let Dn(k) be the number of permutations of the set {1, 2, . . . , n}, n ≥ 1,
which have exactly k fixed points (i.e., Dn(k) = D(n, n, k)). Prove that

(IMO, 1987/1)
35. Let Dn(k) denote D(n, n, k). Show that

for each n ∈ N.
36. Let Dn(k) denote D(n, n, k). Prove that

(West Germany MO, 1987)

37. Let Dn(k) denote D(n, n, k). Prove that

where r, n ∈ N* with r ≤ n. (D. Hanson, Crux Mathematicorum, 15(5)

(1989), 139.)
38. (a) Without using equality (4.7.1), show that
(i) the Euler φ-function is a multiplicative function; that is, φ(mn) =
φ(m)φ(n) whenever m, n ∈ N with (m, n) = 1.
(ii) for a prime p and an integer i ≥ 1,

(b) Derive equality (4.7.1) from (i) and (ii).

39. (i) Compute φ(100) and φ(300).
(ii) Show that φ(m)|φ(n) whenever m|n.
40. Show that for n ∈ N,

41. Let m, n ∈ N with (m, n) = h. Show by using equality (4.7.1) that

42. Show that for n ∈ N with n ≥ 3, φ(n) is always even.

43. Let n ∈ N with n ≥ 2. Show that if n has exactly k distinct prime factors,
then
44. Let n ∈ N with n ≥ 2. Show that if n has exactly k distinct odd prime
factors, then

45. Does there exist an n ∈ N such that φ(n) = 14? Justify your answer.
46. For n ∈ N, show that

47. For m, r, q ∈ N with m ≤ r ≤ q, let

Thus Theorem 4.3.1 says that E(m) = A(m, q). Prove that
(i) if m and r have the same parity (i.e., m ≡ r (mod 2)), then

(ii) if m and r have different parities, then

(iii) strict inequality in (i) (resp., (ii)) holds iff ω(t) > 0 for some t with r <
t ≤ q.
(See K. M. Koh, Inequalities associated with the principle of inclusion
and exclusion, Mathematical Medley, Singapore Math. Soc. 19
(1991), 43–52.)
48. Prove the following Bonferroni inequality:

for each j = 0, 1, . . . , q.
49. (i) Let A1, A2, . . . , An be n finite sets. Show that
 (ii) Apply (i) to prove the following (see Example 1.5.4): A permutation
of n couples {H1, W1, H2, W2, . . . , Hn, Wn} (n ≥ 1) in a row is said to
have property P if at least one couple Hi and Wi (i = l, 2, . . . , n) are
adjacent in the row. Show that for each n there are more permutations
with property P than without.
50. Let B0 = 1 and for r ∈ N, let Br = S(r, k). The number Br is called the
rth Bell number (see Section 1.7). Show that
(i) Corollary 1 to Theorem 4.5.1 can be written as

where r, k ∈ N;
(ii) Br = e−1 .
51. For n ∈ N* and r ∈ N, let

Show that

Deduce that

52. We follow the terminology given in Theorem 4.3.1. For 1 ≤ m ≤ q, let L(m)
denote the number of elements of S that possess at least m of the q
properties. Show that
 Note. One possible proof is to follow the argument given in the proof of
Theorem 4.3.1 and to apply the identity given in the preceding problem.
53. For k = 1, 2, . . . , 1992, let Ak be a set such that |Ak| = 44. Assume that |Ai
∩ Aj| = 1 for all i, j ∈ {1, 2, . . . , 1992} with i ≠ j. Evaluate .
54. Twenty-eight random draws are made from the set

containing 20 elements. What is the probability that the sequence

occurs in that order in the chosen sequence? (Belgium, 1987)

55. A sequence of 35 random draws, one at a time with replacement, is made
from the set of the English alphabet:

What is the probability that the string

occurs as a block in the sequence?

56. In a group of 1990 people, each person has at least 1327 friends. Show that
there are 4 people in the group such that every two of them are friends
(assuming that friendship is a mutual relationship). (Proposed by France at
the 31st IMO.)
57. Let C be the set of complex numbers, and let S = {z ∈ C| |z| = 1}. For each
mapping f : S → S and k ∈ N, define the mapping fk : S → S by
. An element w ∈ S is called an n-periodic point (n

∈ N) of f if

Suppose f : S → S is a mapping defined by

Find the number of 1989-periodic points of f. (Chinese Math. Competition,

 1989)
58. For m, n ∈ N, let be the set of all m × n (0, 1)-matrices. Let

and

Show that the number of matrices in ( \ r) ∩ c is given by

(C. J. Everett and P. R. Stein, Discrete Math., 6 (1973), 29.)

59. For n, m ∈ N with m ≤ n, let Pn(m) denote the number of permutations of
{1, 2, . . . , n} for which m is the first number whose position is left
unchanged. Thus Pn(1) = (n − 1)! and Pn(2) = (n − 1)! − (n − 2)!. Show that
(i) Pn(m) = (−1)i (n − 1 − i)!;
(ii) Pn(m + 1) = Pn(m) − Pn−1(m) for each m = 1, 2, . . . , n − 1.
(See Problem 979, Math. Magazine, 50 (1977), 269–270.)
60. Let P be a nonempty, finite set with p members, and Q be a finite set with
q members. Let Nk(p, q) be the number of binary relations of cardinality k
with domain P and range Q. (Equivalently, Nk(p, q) is the number of p × q
matrices of 0’s and 1’s with exactly k entries equal to 1 and no row or
column identically 0.) Compute (−1)k−1 Nk(p, q). (Proposed by S.
Leader, see Amer. Math. Monthly, 80 (1973), 84.)
61. Let Dn and Mn denote the derangement number and the Ménage number,
respectively. Prove or disprove that the sequence {Mn/Dn}, n = 4, 5, 6, . . .
is monotonically increasing and (Mn/Dn) = 1/e. (Proposed by E. T.
H. Wang, see Amer. Math. Monthly, 87 (1980), 829–830.)
62. Show that for n ∈ N and r ∈ N*,

Deduce that for n ≥ r,

 where Br is the rth Bell number. (See Amer. Math. Monthly, 94 (1987),
187–189.)
63. Let S = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 280}. Find the smallest integer n such that each n-
element subset of S contains at least 5 numbers which are pairwise
relatively prime. (IMO, 1991/3)