Chapter 5, Section 5.

1
The Basics of Counting

These class notes are based on material from our

textbook, Discrete Mathematics and Its
Applications, 6th ed., by Kenneth H. Rosen,
published by McGraw Hill, Boston, MA, 2006. They
are intended for classroom use only and are not a
substitute for reading the textbook.
 The Sum Rule

• Suppose a task can be done by doing either

(but not both) of two subtasks:
– The first subtask can be done in n1 ways
– The second subtask can be done in n2 ways
– These subtasks cannot be done at the same
time, nor are they done in sequence; one
and only one subtask must be chosen.
• Then there are (n1 + n2) ways to do the task.
 Example
• Suppose that you have to select a
representative to a university committee
– Either a member of the mathematics faculty or
a mathematics major student can be selected.
– There are 37 member of the mathematics
faculty and 83 mathematics major students.
• How many different choices are there for
selecting the representative?
 Example
How many different choices are there for
selecting the representative?

Since a student can’t also be a faculty

member (or vice versa) we can use the Sum
Rule and simply add 37 and 83:

37 + 83 = 120
 Example
• A student has to do a computer project
– He can choose a project from one of three
lists.
– The three lists contain 23, 15, and 19
possible projects, respectively.
• How many possible projects are there to
choose from?
 Example
• How many possible projects are there to
choose from?
• No project is on more than one list, so we
can use the Sum Rule:
23 + 15 + 19 = 57
 The Product Rule
• Suppose that a procedure can be broken
down into two tasks such that both tasks
must be done, in sequence:
– The first task can be done in n1 ways
– The second task can be done in n2 ways
after the first task has been done
• Then there are n1n2 ways to do the
procedure.
 Example
• The chairs of an auditorium are to be
labeled with a letter and a positive integer
not exceeding 100.
• What is the largest number of chairs that
can be labeled differently?
 Example
• What is the largest number of chairs that
can be labeled differently?
• We can think of this problem as involving
a sequence of two tasks:
▪ Assign a letter between A and Z
▪ Assign a number between 1 and 100
• The Product Rule says that there are 26 *
100 = 2600 ways to do this.
• So we can label 2600 chairs.
 Example
• Will it make a difference in how many
chair we can label if we assign the number
first and then the letter?
• No; in either case we can label 2600
chairs.
 Example

• How many different bit strings are there of

length seven?
• You probably already know it is 27.
• Think of this as:
2 (2 (2 (2 (2 (2 * 2)))))
 Example
• How many different bit strings are there of
length 1? Only 2: 0 or 1
• How many different bit strings are there of
length 2? There are 4: 00, 01, 10, 11
• How many different bit strings are there of
length 3? There are 8: 000, 001, 010, 011,
100, 101, 110, 111
• You can see the pattern here ….
 Example

• How many different license plates are

available if each plate contains a sequence
of three letters followed by three digits?
26 choices for each letter
10 choices for each digit

Total of: 26 * 26 * 26 * 10 * 10 * 10
 Example

• Telephone Numbering Plan:

– Area Code - Office Code - Station Code
– X: 0-9, N: 2-9, Y: 0-1
– Old Plan: NYX, NNX, XXXX
– New Plan: NXX, NXX, XXXX
 Example
• Telephone Numbering Plan:
8 * 2* 10 area codes with NYX
8 * 10 * 10 area codes with NXX
8 * 8 *10 office codes with NNX
8 * 10 * 10 office codes with NXX
10 * 10 * 10 * 10 station codes with XXX
So:
old plan  160 * 640 * 10,000
new plan  800 * 800 * 10,000
Combining Sum Rule and Product Rule
• Used in complex counting problems
• Example:
– A programming language can have 1 or 2
character case-insensitive variable names.
– Each variable name must start with a letter.
– There are five 2-character reserved words
that cannot be used.
– How many different variable names are
there?
Combining Sum Rule and Product Rule
• There are 26 different 1-character variable
names.
• The 2-character variable names must:
– Start with one of 26 letters
– End with one of 26 letters or 10 numerals
• So by the Product Rule there are 26 * 36 =
936 two-character variable names. Subtract
the 5 reserved words and you get 931.
• By the Sum Rule there are 26 + 931 = 957
different variable names in this language.
 Example
• Each user on a computer system has a password
– Each password is six to eight characters long
– Each character is an uppercase letter or a digit
– Each password must contain at least one digit
• How many possible passwords are there?
 Example
• There are 26 letters and 10 decimal digits = 36
characters that we can use to form passwords.
• For P6 (6-character) passwords, the Product Rule
says there are 366 potential passwords.
• But passwords that are all letters are prohibited.
There are 266 of these.
• So there are 366 – 266 P6 passwords.
• Similarly, for P7 and P8 passwords.
• Total passwords = P6 + P7 + P8
 The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle
• Question: What happens when two tasks
can be done at the same time, but we want
to count the number of ways to do one of
the two tasks?
• Answer: First, we add the number of ways
to do the first task to the number of ways to
do the second task. Then we subtract the
number of ways to do both tasks. (Why?
Because otherwise they get counted twice.)
 Example
• How many bit strings of length eight either start
with a 1 or end with the two bits 00?
– 1st Task: Construct a string beginning with a 1.
– 2nd Task: Construct a string ending with 00.
– Both tasks: Construct a string that begins with a 1 and
ends with 00.
• 1st: There are 28 ways to construct a binary string
of 8 bits, but half of these start with a 0, so there
are 27 ways to construct an 8-bit binary string
starting with 1. (The product rule says there is 1
way to chose the first bit and 2 ways to choose
each of the other 7 bits.)
 Example
• 2nd: Construct a string ending with 00.
– The product rule says there are 2 ways to choose the
first 6 bits and 1 way to chose the last 2 bits, so there
are 26 ways to construct this string.
• Both: Construct a string that begins with 1 and
ends with 00.
– The product rule says there is 1 way to choose the first
bit, 2 ways to chose the middle 5 bits, and 1 way to
chose the last 2 bits, so there are 25 ways to construct
this string.
• Total = (27 + 26) – 25 = 160
 Tree Diagrams
• Sometimes we can use tree diagrams to solve
counting problems.
• In a tree diagram, we use a branch to represent
each possible choice. The possible outcomes are
the leaves (terminal endpoints of the branches).
• Problem: How many bit strings of length 4 do not
have two consecutive 1’s?
• See the tree diagram on the next slide.
• There are 8 bit strings of length 4 that do not have
two consecutive 1’s.
05_1_02.jpg
 Tree Diagrams
• Suppose that we are having a playoff between two
baseball teams, and the first team that wins three
games (out of 5) wins the playoff.
• In how many possible ways can the playoff occur?
• See the next slide.
• The playoff tree has 20 leaf nodes, each of which
represents a different possible winning sequence.
 CSE 2813
Discrete Structures

Chapter 5, Section 5.2

The Pigeonhole Principle
 The Sum Rule (Recap)

• Suppose a task can be done by doing either

of two subtasks:
– The first subtask can be done in n1 ways
– The second subtask can be done in n2 ways
– These subtasks cannot be done at the same
time
• Then there are (n1+n2) ways to do the task.
 The Product Rule (Recap)

• Suppose that a procedure can be broken

down into a sequence of two tasks:
– The first task can be done in n1 ways
– The second task can be done in n2 ways
after the first task has been done
• Then there are n1n2 ways to do the
procedure.
 The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle
(Recap)
• Question: What happens when two tasks
can be done at the same time, but we
want to count the number of ways to do
one of the two tasks?
• Answer: We add the number of ways to
do each of the two tasks and then subtract
the number of ways to do both tasks.
 The Pigeonhole Principle

• The Pigeonhole Principle says:

If k+1 or more objects are placed into k
boxes then there is at least one box
containing two or more of the objects.
 The Pigeonhole Principle

• Suppose we have 12 pigeonholes, but 13

pigeons to put into them.
• Then at least one pigeonhole must contain
at least two pigeons.
• See next slide:
The Pigeonhole Principle
 The Pigeonhole Principle
• Proof by contradiction:
– Given that we have k boxes and k + 1 objects.
– Assume that, after distributing the objects into the k
boxes, none of the boxes contains more than one
object.
– Therefore, the maximum total number of objects in
the boxes would be 1 * k = k.
– But this contradicts the fact that we have k + 1
objects.
– Therefore, after distributing the objects into the k
boxes, at least one of the boxes must contain more
than one object.
 Example

• Among any group of 367 people, there must

be at least two with the same birthday.
• Why?
• Because there are only 366 possible
birthdays.
 Example
• 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 from 0 to
100 points?
The Generalized Pigeonhole Principle

• If N objects are placed into k boxes, then

there is at least one box containing at least
N/k objects.
• Example: Among 100 people there are at
least 100/12 = 9 who were born in the
same month.
 Example
• Assume that there are five possible final
grades in this class: A, B, C, D, and F.
• What is the minimum number of students
required to be sure that at least six will
receive the same grade?
 Example
• Assume that there are five possible final grades in this
class: A, B, C, D, and F.
• What is the minimum number of students required
to be sure that at least six will receive the same
grade?
• The solution is the smallest integer N such
that N/5 = 6.
• Obviously, N = 25 is too small.
• The ceilings of 26/5, 27/5, 28/5, 29/5, and
30/5 all = 6, and the smallest integer N is 26.
 Example
• Assume telephone numbers are of the form
NXX-NXX-XXXX, where:
– the first three digits form the area code,
– N represent a digit from 2 to 9 inclusive, and
– X represents any digit.
• What is the least number of area codes to
guarantee that the 25 million phones in a
state can be assigned distinct 10-digit
telephone numbers?
 Example
• There are 6.4 million telephone numbers of
the form NXX-NXX-XXXX.
• For 25 million phones to be assigned distinct
10-digit telephone numbers we would need
25,000,000 / 6,400,000 = 4 different area
codes.
 CSE 2813
Discrete Structures

Chapter 5, Section 5.3

Permutations and Combinations
 Permutations

• Permutation: A set of distinct objects in an

ordered arrangement of these objects.
• r-permutation: An ordered arrangement of r
elements of a set.
• Example: Consider the set S = {1,2,3}.
– What are the 3-permutations of S ?
– What are the 2-permutations of S ?
 Permutations
• The number of r-permutations of an
n-element set is:

n!
P(n,r) = n(n-1)(n-2) … (n-r+1) =
(n-r)!

if n and r are integers with 0 ≤ r ≤ n

 Example
• Suppose that there are eight runners in a
race. Gold, silver and bronze medals are
given. How many different ways are there to
award these medals, if all possible outcomes
of the race can occur?
• Think about it this way: gold is for first
place, silver for second, and bronze for
third.
 Example
• The ordered set {Smith, Jones, Green} is
saying that Smith won the gold, Jones the
silver, and Green the bronze.
• A permutation is simply an ordered set or
subset.
• So the number of different ways to award
the medals is the number of 3-permutations
of a set with 8 elements.
 Example
• Here is our formula for permutations:

n!
Pn, r  
n  r !
• So our formula for this problem would be:
P(8, 3) = 8! / (8 – 3)! = 8! / 5! = 336
 Example

• Suppose that a saleswoman has to visit eight

different cities. She must begin her trip in a
specified city, but she can visit the other seven
cities in any order she wishes. How many
possible orders can the sales woman use when
visiting these cities?
 Example
• The starting city is predetermined, so it is not part
of the permutation.
• There are 7 other cities that she can visit in any
order.
• Therefore, this is a permutation problem, and the
formula is:
• P(7, 7) = 7! / (7 – 7)! = 7! / 1 = 5040
• Trying to determine the best of all of the possible
paths is called the Traveling Salesman Problem.
 Combinations

• r-combination: An unordered selection of r

elements of a set.
• Example: Consider the set S = {1, 2, 3}.
– What are the 2-combinations of S ?
{1, 2}, {1, 3}, {2, 3}
• Note that, because combinations are
unordered, {1, 2} is the same as {2, 1}.
 Combinations
• Theorem 2: The number of r-combinations of
an n-element set (read “n choose r”), where 0
 r  n, is:
n!
C n, r  
r!n  r !
or, equivalently,
P ( n, r )
C n, r  
r!
 Combinations
• Corollary 2: Let n and r be nonnegative
integers with r  n. Then C(n, r) = C(n, n-r).
n!
C n, r  
r!n  r !
and,
n! n!
C n, n  r   
n  r !n  n  r ! n  r !r!
and these are obviously equivalent.
 Example
• How many 2-combinations are there of a set
with three elements, {a, b, c}?
• Here is our formula:
n!
C n, r  
r!(n  r )!
So:
C(3, 2) = 3! / (2! • (3 - 2)!
C(3, 2) = (3 • 2 • 1) / ((2 • 1) • (1))
C(3, 2) = (6) / ((2) • (1))
C(3, 2) = (6) / ((2)) = 3
 Example
• What is the value of C(7, 3)?
• Here is our formula:
n!
C n, r  
r!(n  r )!
So:
7! 7! 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 7 6 5 7 5
    35
3!(7  3)! 3!4! 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 1
 Example
• How many ways are there to select 5 players
from a 10 member tennis team to make a trip to a
match at another school?
• Well, how many 5-combinations are there in a set
with 10 elements? Here is the formula:
n!
C n, r  
r!(n  r )!

• C(10,5) = 10! / ((5! • (10 – 5)!)

• C(10,5) = 10! / (5! • 5!)
• C(10,5) = 252
 Example
• A CSE senior needs 5 CSE courses to graduate.
There are 12 different computer science courses
that she can take next semester that would count
toward her degree. How many different sets of 5
courses could she take?
• This is a “12 choose 5” problem; how many 5-
combinations are there in a set with 12 elements?
Here is the formula:
• C(12,5) = 12! / ((5! • (12 – 5)!)
• C(12,5) = 12! / (5! • 7!)
• C(12,5) = 792
 Example
• A committee has to be selected to develop
a discrete mathematics course at a school.
– The committee is to consist of 3 faculty
members from the mathematics department
and 4 from the computer science department.
– There are 9 faculty members in the
mathematics department and 11 in the
computer science department.
• How many ways are there to select the
committee?
 Example
• By the Product Rule, the answer is the
product of:
– the number of 3-combinations of a set with 9
elements, and
– the number of 4-combinations of a set with 11
elements
• This is C(9, 3) • C(11, 4) , which equals:
[9! / (3! • 6!)] • [11! / (4! • 7!)] =
84 • 330 = 27, 720
 Example
• For you poker players out there: the total
number of five-card poker hands from a
deck of playing cards is “52 choose 5”, or

52!
C 52,5 
5!(52  5)!
52! / (5!(52 – 5)!) = 2,598,960
 Example
• What are the odds of being dealt a hand of 5-card stud
containing two pair?
• First, let’s look at the steps in the process of forming a 5-card
hand containing two pairs, say 2 eights and 2 aces:
a) Choose two face values out of 13 possible face values for the
pairs (eights and aces):
13 choose 2 = 78
b) Choose two cards from the smaller face value (8♣, 8♠):
4 choose 2 = 6
c) Choose two cards from the larger face value (A♠, A♣):
4 choose 2 = 6
d) Choose one card from those remaining (9♦):
44 choose 1 = 44 (eliminating the 8 face cards already
considered: 52 – 8 = 44)
• By the Product Rule, H = 78 • 6 • 6 • 44 = 123,552.
 Example
• H = 123,552 = the number of different
ways we can form a five-card poker hand
containing 2 pair.
• T = 2,598,960 = the total number of
different five-card poker hands that can be
dealt from a standard deck of 52 playing
cards.
• So, the probability of obtaining a hand with
two pairs is H / T = 123,552 / 2,598,960 or
4.75%.
 Summary

Order Repetitions Type of Result Formula

Relevant Allowed
Yes Yes Arrangement nr
n, r  0
Yes No Permutation P(n, r)  n!/(n-r)!
0rn
No No Combination C(n, r)  n!/[r!(n-r)!]
0rn
 Homework Exercise

• In how many different ways can we select

4 different players from 10 players on a
team to play four tennis matches, where the
matches are ordered?
 CSE 2813
Discrete Structures

Chapter 5, Section 5.4

Binomial Coefficients
 Binomial Coefficients
• This number represents the binomial
coefficient:
 n
 
r (read this as “n choose r”)

• Why? Because these numbers occur as

coefficients in the expansion of powers
of binomial expression such as (a+b)n
 Example

(x+y)0 = 1
(x+y)1 = x + y
(x+y)2 = x2 + 2xy + y2
(x+y)3 = x3 + 3x2y + 3xy2 + y3
(x+y)4 = x4 + 4x3y + 6x2y2 + 4xy3 + y4
 Example
Instead of multiplying, the expansion of (x+y)3
can be found by combinatorial reasoning:
(x+y)3 = (x+y) • (x+y) • (x+y)

first sum second sum third sum

Let’s put subscripts on each of the x’s and y’s
so we can tell which sum they belong to:
(x+y)3 = (x1+y1) • (x2+y2) • (x3+y3)
 Example
(x+y)3 = the sum of all products resulting from
choosing a term in the first sum, a term in
the second sum, and a term in the third sum.

From the expansion of (x+y)3 the following

terms will be produced, and it will be our
job to determine the coefficients of each
term: x3, x2y, xy2, and y3.
 Example
In how many ways can we form x3? Obviously,
there is only one way: x1 • x2 • x3
In how many ways can we form x2y?
We can chose an x from any two sums, and a y
from the third sum, as follows:
x1x2 • y3 or x2x3 • y1 or x1x3 • y2
3
So there are 3  2  2-combinations of 3 variables
 
here. Thus, the coefficient for the x2y term is 3.
 Example
Similarly, there will be 3 2-combinations of 3
variables for the xy2 term, giving a coefficient for
the xy2 term of 3.
And finally, there will be only one way to form y3.

Now we know how to expand (x+y)3 without having

to multiply out the terms; just use the Binomial
Theorem to tell us what the coefficient of each
term will be:
(x+y)3 = x3 + 3x2y + 3xy2 + y2
 Binomial Theorem
• Gives the coefficients of the expansion of
powers of binomial expressions.
• Let x  R, y  R, and n  N.
n
x  y   C (n, j ) x
n n j
y j

j 0

 n  n  n  n 1  n  n 2 2  n  n 1  n  n
  x    x y    x y  ...    xy    y
 0 1   2  n  1  n
 Example
Expand (x + y)4.
4
 4  4 j j
(x + y) 4
   x y
j 0  j

 4 4  4 3  4 2 2  4 3  4 4
  x    x y    x y    xy    y
 0 1   2 3  4

= x2 + 4x3y + 6x2y2 + 4xy3 + y4

 Example
• What is the coefficient of x12y13 in the expansion
of (x+y)25 ?
• Note that the coefficient of x12y13 in the expansion
is obtained when j = 13:
• The binomial theorem tells us that:

 25  25! 25!
    5,200,300
 13  13! 25 - 13! 13!12!
 Example
• What is the coefficient of x12y13 in the expansion
of (2x-3y)25 ?
• Note that (2x-3y)25 = (2x + (-3y))25
• According to the binomial theorem:
25
 25 
2 x   3 y 
25
   2 x   3 y 
25 j j

j 0 j 
• The coefficient of x12y13 is obtained when j = 13:
 25  12 25! 25! 12 13
  2 - 3 
13 12 13
2 3  2 3
 13  13! 25 - 13! 13!12!
 Corollary 1

• Let n be a non-negative integer. Then:

n
 n  n  n  n  n   n
            ...       2 n

k 0  k   0  1   2   n  1  n 
 Proof Using Subsets
n
 n  n  n  n  n   n
            ...       2 n
k 0  k   0  1   2   n  1  n 
A set with n elements has 2n different subsets.
Each subset consists of 0 elements, 1 element, 2
elements, … or n elements.
There is only 1 subset with 0 elements, the empty set.
There are n subsets with a single element.
n!
There are 2!n  2! subsets with 2 elements.
…
There are n subsets with n-1 elements.
There is only 1 subset with n elements.
 Proof Using Combinations
n
 n  n  n  n  n   n
            ...       2 n
k 0  k   0  1   2   n  1  n 

A set with n elements has 2n different subsets.

Each subset consists of 0 elements, 1 element, 2
elements, … or n elements.
 n  n
There are   subsets with 0 elements,   subsets with 1 elements,
 0 1
 n  n
  subsets with 2 elements, ... and   subsets with n elements.
 2  n
n
n
Therefore,    counts the total number of subsets.
k 0  k 
 Example
• How many subsets are there of the set S = {a, b, c}?
• C(3,0) = 1, and there is one set with 0 elements: 
• C(3,1) = 3, and there are three sets with 1 element:
{a}, {b}, {c}
• C(3,2) = 3, and there are three sets with two
elements: {a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c}
• C(3,3) = 1, and there is one set with three elements:
{a, b, c}
• So the total number of subsets = 8 = 23
 Pascal’s Triangle

• Geometric arrangement of binomial

coefficients
• Based on Pascal’s Identity
 Pascal’s Identity
• Let n  Z+ and k  Z+ with n  k.
• Then,
C(n+1, k) = C(n, k1) + C(n, k)
• When two adjacent binomial coefficients in
this Pascal’s triangle are added, the
binomial coefficient in the next row
between these two coefficients is produced.
• Example: C(7,5) = C(6,4) + C(6,5)
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