FUNCTION ASSIGNMENT 1

COMBINATORS -2
1. Supose that each of n people known exactly one piece of information, and all n pieces are different.
Every timeperson A phones perosn B, A tells B everything he knows, while B tells A nothing. What
is the minimum of phone call between pairs of people needed for everyone to know everything ?
2. There are four piles of stones: One with 6 stones, two with 8, and one with 9. Five players numbered
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 take turns, in the order of their numbers, choosing one of the piles and dividing it into
two smaller piles. The loser is the player who cannot do this. State the number of player who loses.
3. The ‘4’ button on my calculator is spoilt, so I cannot enter numbers which contain the digit 4.
Moreover, my calculator does not display the digit 4 if 4 is part of an answer either. Thus I cannot
enter the calculation 2 x 14 and do not attempt to do so. Also, the result of multiplying 3 by 18 is
displayed as 5 instead of 54 and the result of multiplying 7 by 7 is displayed as 9 instead of 49. If
multiply a positive one -digit number by a positive two digit number on my calculator and it displays
26, how many possibilities could I have multiplied?
4. N pieces of candy are made and packed into boxes, with each box containing 45 pieces. If N is non-
zero perfect cube and 45 is one of its factor, what is the least possible number of boxes that can be
packed?
5. Find the least n such that whenever the element of the set {1, 2, …..n} are colored red or blue, threr
always exist x, y, z, w (not necessarily distinct) of the same color such that x + y + z = w.
6. n dots are drawn on the circumference of a circle. By joining all the dots to one another by straight
lines, the maximum number of regions that can be formed in the circle is counted. For example,
when n = 4, the maximum number of regions is 8.

What is the maximum of regions that can be formed when n = 7?

7. Every card in a deck has picture of one shape circle, square, or triangle, which is painted in one of
three colors red, blue or green. Furthermore, each color is applied on one of three shades - light,
FUNCTION 2

medium, or dark. The deck has 27 cards, with every shape-color-shade combination represented. A
set of three cards from the deck is called complementary if all of the following statement are true:
a. Either each of the three cards has different shapes or all three of the cards have the same shape.
b. Either each of the three cards has a different color or all three of the cards have the same color.
c. Either each of the three cards has a different shade or all three of the cards have the same shade.
How many different complementary three-card sets are there?
8. We like to form a bouquet from 11 different flowers so that it should contain not less than 3 flowers.
Find the number of different ways of forming such a bouquet
9. A box contains two white, three black and four red balls. Find the number of ways in which we can
select three balls from the box. if at least one black ball is to be included in the selection.
10. A person wishes to make up as many different parties as he can out of 20 friends. Each party consists
of the same number of friends. How many should be invited at a time? In how many of these parties
would the same friend be found?
FUNCTION 3

Answers Key
1. (2n - 2) 2. (3) 3. (6) 4. (75)
5. (11) 6. (57) 7. (117) 8. (1981)
9 (6) 10. 20C , 19C
10 9

Solutions
1. Supose that each of n people known exactly one piece of information, and all n pieces are different.
Every timeperson A phones perosn B, A tells B everything he knows, while B tells A nothing. What
is the minimum of phone call between pairs of people needed for everyone to know everything ?
Sol: We claim that the minimum of calls needed is 2n –2. Let A be a particular person, the 2n –2 calls
made by A toe ach of the person and vice versa will leave everybody informed. Thus at most 2n –2
calls are needed. Next we prove that we need at least 2n–2 calls. Suppose that there is a sequence of
calls that leaves everybody informed. Let B the first person to be fully infomred and that he revieved
his last piece of information at the pth call. Then each of the remaining n -1 people must have placed
at least one call prior to p so that B can be fully informed. Also these people must received at least
one call after p since they were still not fully infomred at the pth call. Thus we need at least 2(n - 1)
calls.
2. There are four piles of stones: One with 6 stones, two with 8, and one with 9. Five players numbered
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 take turns, in the order of their numbers, choosing one of the piles and dividing it into
two smaller piles. The loser is the player who cannot do this. State the number of player who loses.
Ans 3.
Sol: Observe that we begin with 4 piles of stones and end up with 6 + 8 + 8 + 9 = 31 piles of (one) stones.
At the end of each turn, there is exactly one more pile of stones than beginning of the turn. Thus,
there can be exactly 31– 4 = 27 legal turns. Hence, Player 3 is the first player who cannot make a
move.
3. The ‘4’ button on my calculator is spoilt, so I cannot enter numbers which contain the digit 4.
Moreover, my calculator does not display the digit 4 if 4 is part of an answer either. Thus I cannot
enter the calculation 2 x 14 and do not attempt to do so. Also, the result of multiplying 3 by 18 is
displayed as 5 instead of 54 and the result of multiplying 7 by 7 is displayed as 9 instead of 49. If
multiply a positive one -digit number by a positive two digit number on my calculator and it displays
26, how many possibilities could I have multiplied?
FUNCTION 4

Ans: 6
Sol: Since the product is at most a three-digit number, the possible answer I should get is 26, 426, 246 or
264.
Since
26 = 1 x 26 = 2 x 13
426 = 1 x 426 = 2 x 213 = 3 x 412 = 6 x 71
246 = 1 x 246 = 2 x 123 = 3 x 82 = 6 x 41
264 = 1 x 264 = 2 x 132 = 3 x 88 = 4 x 66
= 6 x 44 = 8 x 33 = 11 x 24 = 12 x 22,
there are 6 possibilities.
4. N pieces of candy are made and packed into boxes, with each box containing 45 pieces. If N is non-
zero perfect cube and 45 is one of its factor, what is the least possible number of boxes that can be
packed?
Ans: 75.00
Sol: The least non-zero perfect cube of the form 45m = 32. 5m is 33 × 53. Thus, the least possible number
of boxes that can be packed is 3 × 52 = 75.
5. Find the least n such that whenever the element of the set {1, 2, …..n} are colored red or blue, threr
always exist x, y, z, w (not necessarily distinct) of the same color such that x + y + z = w.
Ans: 11.00
Sol: It can easily be checked that if 1, 2, 9, 10 are red and 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are blue, then there do not exist
x, y, z, w of the same color such that x + y + z = w. So n ≥ 11.
Suppose there exists a coloring (for n = 11) such that there do not exist x, y, z, w of the same color
such that x + y + z = w. Then 1, 9 must be of a different color from 3. Thus say 1 and 9 are red, and 3
is blue. Since 7 + 1 + 1 =9, 7 must then be blue. Now, 2 + 3 + 3 = 7, so 2 is red, and hence 4 (= 1 + 1
+ 2) is blue. But 11 = 3 + 4 + 4 = 9 + 1 + 1, a contradiction.
6. n dots are drawn on the circumference of a circle. By joining all the dots to one another by straight
lines, the maximum number of regions that can be formed in the circle is counted. For example,
when n = 4, the maximum number of regions is 8.
FUNCTION 5

What is the maximum of regions that can be formed when n = 7?

Ans: 57.00
Sol: One can count directly that the maximum number of regions is 57.
7. Every card in a deck has picture of one shape circle, square, or triangle, which is painted in one of
three colors red, blue or green. Furthermore, each color is applied on one of three shades - light,
medium, or dark. The deck has 27 cards, with every shape-color-shade combination represented. A
set of three cards from the deck is called complementary if all of the following statement are true:
a. Either each of the three cards has different shapes or all three of the cards have the same shape.
b. Either each of the three cards has a different color or all three of the cards have the same color.
c. Either each of the three cards has a different shade or all three of the cards have the same shade.
How many different complementary three-card sets are there?
Sol: Consider any pair of cards from the deck. We show that there is exactly one card that can be added to
this pair to make a complementary set. If the cards on the pair have the same shape, then the third
card must also have this shape, while if the cards have different shapes, then the third card must have
the one shape that differs from differs from them. In either case, Similar reasoning shows that the
color and the shade on the third card are also uniquely determined. The third card, determined by the
first two, is never one of the first two cards. Thus we can count the number of complementary sets by
counting the number of pairs of cards and then dividing by 3, because each complementary set is
counted three times by this procedure. The number of complementary sets is
1  27  1 27.26
 = . = 117.
32  3 2
8. We like to form a bouquet from 11 different flowers so that it should contain not less than 3 flowers.
Find the number of different ways of forming such a bouquet
Sol: Since the bouquet should not contain less than 3 flowers so that to form a bouquet we are to select at
least 3 flowers and at most 11 flowers out of 11 and hence, required number of ways
11
C3 + 11C4 + 11C5 + .....+ 11C11
FUNCTION 6

= (11C0 + 11C1 + 11C2) + 11C3 + 11C4 + ... 11C11 – 11C0 – 11C1 – 11C2
= 211 - (11C0 + 11C1 + 11C2)
= 211 - (1 + 11 + 55) = 1981
9. A box contains two white, three black and four red balls. Find the number of ways in which we can
select three balls from the box. if at least one black ball is to be included in the selection.
Sol: Considering balls of the same colour alike we have 2 (white) alike balls of one kind, 3 (black) alike
balls of 2nd kind and 4 (red) alike balls of 3rd kind. Hence, number of selections of any 3 balls
containing at least one black balls is
= coefficient of x3 in(x0 + x + x2)(x + x2 + x3) (x0 + x + x2 + x3 + x4)
white black
= coefficient of x3 in (1 + x + x2) x (1 + x + x2)(1 + x + x2 + x3 + x4)
 1 − x5 
= coefficient of x3 in x(1 + x + x2)2  
 1− x 
2
2  1 − x3   1 − x5 
= coefficient of x in    
 1− x   1− x 
coefficient of x2 in(1 – 2x3 + x6)(1 – x5)(1 – x)-3
coefficient of x2 in (1 – 2x3 + x6 – x5 + 2x8 – x11)(1 – x)-3
coefficient of x2 in (1 – 2x3 – x5 + x6 + .. )(1 + 3C1x + 4C2x2 + ...)
= 4C2 = 6.
10. A person wishes to make up as many different parties as he can out of 20 friends. Each party consists
of the same number of friends. How many should be invited at a time? In how many of these parties
would the same friend be found?
Sol: Let the number of friends be invited be n. then number of parties = 20Cn.
But it is given that 20Cn is maximum and hence
20
n= = 10.
2
Let a particular friend attends P parties. Then, number of combination of 20 taken 10 at a time such
that the particular friend must be included = P.
But number of combinations of 20 taken 10 at a time such that the particular member is included is
= 20 – 1C10 – 1 = 19C9
Hence. P = 19C9