3/21/23, 10:22 PM Combinatorics | Brilliant

Combinatorics

Combinatorics is the study of counting. Mathematicians who study

combinatorics develop techniques to count outcomes, arrangements,
and combinations of objects. These counting strategies can be applied to
many different areas in mathematics — like probability, algebra, and
geometry.

Competitive combinatorics problems often present situations that

appear overwhelming and chaotic at first. To avoid being overwhelmed,
it's important to focus on ways to organize the objects being counted.
Look for ways to simplify the number of things you need to count:

separate them into cases,

focus only on the ones that meet certain criteria, and

look for patterns.

A standard deck with 52 cards, which has 26 red cards and 26 black, is
shuffled:

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Explanation
eht sa roloc emas eht si drac pot eht taht ytilibaborp eht s'tahW
?drac mo
Suppose the top card is red. Then, of the 51 cards remaining, ttob
25
are red, so there's a 25
51
or roughly 49% chance the bottom card is
​

also red.
%05 naht rewoL

%05 yltcaxE
Suppose the top card is black. Then, of the 51 cards remaining, 25
are black, so there's a 25 or roughly 49% chance the bottom card
51 %05 naht rehgiH
​

is also black.

!tcerroC   🎉
Since red and black might be the top card with equal probability,
the overall probability of the top and bottom colors matching is
roughly 49%.
noitanalpxe wohS
The main confusion here can be isolated if we fix the condition that
the numbers of red and black cards are equal, and reduce the
problem to a 2-card deck. We might think BB, RR, RB, and BR are
all of equal probability and hence both cards being the same is as
likely as them being different. But neither BB nor RR is possible
because the deck has an equal number of red and black cards.

Back to problem

Explanation
drow eht ni srettel eht egnarra ot ereht era syaw ynam woH
? rehto hcae ot txen ton era s' O owt eht taht hcus ” D O OL F“
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We can use the concept of the complement of a set to find the

number of arrangements. First, we find the total number of
possible arrangements, and then we subtract the number of
arrangements that have the two O 's next to each other. The result
is the number of arrangements in which the two O 's aren't next to
each other.

There're 5 letters being arranged, so to start we have 42

5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120 ways to arrange them. However, the
two O 's are indistinguishable from each other, so this counts 63
combinations like OF LDO and OF LDO as different, even
06 a
though in reality they are identical since the letters don't have
color. To account for this, we divide the number of arrangements
021
by 2, leaving 60 total arrangements.

rewsna eht was uoY 👀

Now, to consider the number of arrangements that leave the two
O's next to each other, we can consider them as a single object.
Then we just need to consider the possible arrangements of
noitabeing
F , L, D, and OO. Since there're 4 different items nalpxe wohS
arranged, there're 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24 possible permutations.

That means the number of arrangements that don't have the two
O's next to each other is 60 − 24 = 36.

Back to problem

Bombus, the bumblebee, wants to move from the top-left cell to the
bottom-right cell containing honey.

Each time he moves, he can only take a step to a neighboring cell that
moves him to the right:

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3/21/23, 10:22 PM Combinatorics | Brilliant

Stepts3al eht ni yenoh eht gnihcaer fo evah eh seod syaw ynam woH
?llec
So, the number of ways to get to a given cell is provided by adding
the number of ways to get to the two cells that are connecting and
to the left of it. This gives the same sequence as that of the 98
Fibonacci numbers, and calculating the correct number for the cell
821
on the bottom-right gives 144 paths:

441

862

4201
3
tcerrocnI 🔎
Back to problem

3/3 noitanalpxe wohS

If you randomly pick a card from the ten here, the probability of picking
an odd value is equal to the probability of picking an even value — the
ace has a value of 1 :

Explanation
eht fo mus eht seod ,evoba net eht morf sdrac tcnitsid owt gnikciP
?neve ro ddo gnieb fo ytilibaborp rehgih a evah seulav owt
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3/21/23, 10:22 PM Combinatorics | Brilliant

First, let's determine the number of ways to select any two cards.
.ylekil erom si mus ddo nA
There're 10 options for the first card selected and 9 options for the
second. However, the order in which
.ylthe
ekil cards
erom are
si mselected doesn't
us neve nA
matter, so we need to divide by 2 — which is the number of ways to
rearrange each pair — to get the
.ytinumber
libaborpof
em possible
as eht epairs.
vah yeSo,
hT
there're 10×9
2
​ = 45 ways to choose two cards, with equal
probability. tcerrocnI 🔎

The sum will be even when both the chosen cards are even or
when they are both odd. Using the same reasoning we
noitanalpapplied
xe wohto
S
the total number of pairs, there're

5×4
2 ​ = 10 ways to select 2 even cards and
5×4
2
​ = 10 ways to select 2 odd cards.

In total, this gives 10 + 10 = 20 ways in which the sum is even.

On the other hand, the sum will be odd when one chosen card is
even and the other is odd. There're 5 even cards that can be paired
with any of 5 odd cards, so there're 5 × 5 = 25 ways to choose 1
odd and 1 even card.

Since 25 > 20, the probability of an odd sum is greater.

Back to problem

The combinatorics questions in math competitions frequently focus on

counting complicated arrangements and calculating the probabilities of
events. We have chapters on each of these categories in this course.
Since you don't need to work through all of the chapters in this course in
order, you can jump directly to whichever one you want to practice.

Our chapter on counting will teach you several visual and arithmetic
tricks for organizing and counting objects in a variety of ways. To learn

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3/21/23, 10:22 PM Combinatorics | Brilliant

more, you can explore what's in this chapter.

Our chapter on probability will show you how to apply these counting
strategies to determine the real-life probability of events. It also delves
into more complicated ways to select objects, including ways to calculate
all possible combinations that can be selected from a group. To learn
more, you can explore what's in this chapter.

Finish lesson

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