Combinatorics: The Fine Art of Counting

The Final Challenge Part One Solutions

Whenever the question asks for a probability, enter your answer as either 0, 1, or the sum
of the numerator and denominator of a reduced fraction equal to the probability. For
example if the probability is 0.8 = 4/5, the answer would be 9.

1. A landscaper has 10 bushes that he is going to plant in 4 different sections of a yard.

Assuming that he puts at least one bush in each section, how many different ways
can he do this?
1 point

(6+3 3) = 84
2. Call a 7-digit phone number good if it contains exactly 4 distinct non-zero digits, does
not have a 1 in the first or second position, and both the first 3 digits and the last 4
digits are palindromes. 343-5995, and 929-3113 are examples of good phone
numbers. How many good phone numbers are there?
1 point

8*7*7*6 = 2,352
3. (AHSME 1994) A bag of popcorn contains 2/3 white kernels and 1/3 yellow kernels.
Only half the white kernels will pop, whereas 2/3 of the yellow ones will. A random
kernel is selected from the bag and it pops when placed in the popper. What is the
probability it is white?
1 point
P(W&P) = 1/3, P(P) = (2/3)*(1/2)+(1/3)*(2/3) = 5/9
P(W|P) = P(W&P) / P(P) = 3/5

4. (AIME 2005B) A game uses a deck of n different cards where n 6. The number of
possible sets of 6 cards that can be drawn from the deck is 6 times the number of
possible sets of 3 cards than can be drawn. Find n.
1 point

(n 6) = 6*(n 3) => n = 13.

5. A space-diagonal connects two vertices of a polyhedron which do not lie on the
same face. The truncated icosahedron (a.k.a. a soccer ball) is a semi-regular
polyhedra with 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons and vertex degree 3. How many
space-diagonals does it have?
2 points
60 vertices, 90 edges, 12*5 + 20*9 = 240 face diagonals
(60 2) 240 90 = 1,440

6. (AIME 1990) Let n be the smallest integer that is a multiple of 75 and has exactly 75
positive integral divisors including 1 and itself. Find n/75?
2 points
4

2 *3 *5 / 75 = 432
7. (AIME 1990) A fair coin is tossed 10 times. What is the probability that heads never
occurs on consecutive tosses?
2 points

1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144

144 / 210 = 9 / 64
8. (AIME 1998) Consider a set of dominos in which the ends of each domino are
labeled with distinct integers from 1 to 40 (inclusive) and all possible combinations
are represented. A proper sequence of dominos is a line of dominos laid end-to-end
where adjacent ends having matching numbers. What is the longest proper
sequence that can be formed with this set?
2 points
7 6 1
Remove 19 non-adjacent edges from K40 to get a graph with an Eulerian trail.
(40 2) 19 = 761
9. (AIME 2005) How many positive integers have exactly three proper divisors, each of
which is less than 50? (A proper divisor of a positive integer n is a positive integer
divisor of n other than n itself).
2 points
15 primes less than 50 => (15 2) = 105 numbers of the form n=pq
4 squares of primes less than 50 => 4 numbers of the form n=p3

10. (AIME 2004B) A jar has 10 red candies and 10 blue candies. Terry picks 2
candies at random, then Mary picks 2 candies at random. What is the probability
they get the same combination of colors, irrespective of order?
2 points
(2*10*9*8*7 + 4*10*10*9*9) / 20*19*18*17 = 118 / 323

Combinatorics: The Fine Art of Counting

The Final Challenge Part Two Solutions
Whenever the question asks for a probability, enter your answer as either 0, 1, or the sum
of the numerator and denominator of a reduced fraction equal to the probability. For
example if the probability is 0.8 = 4/5, the answer would be 9.

11. Party favor bags for a party each contain either 3 lollipops which may be any of 5
flavors, or 6 gum-balls which may be any of 3 flavors (but not both). How many
different bags can be assembled?
1 point

(3+4 4) + (6+2 2) = 35 + 28 = 63
12. Consider the 3-dimensional space of points with integer coordinates (x,y,z). Any
point can be reached from the origin (0,0,0) by taking steps of 1 unit in the positive or
negative x, y, or z direction moving from point to point in the grid. A direct path
between two points is a path which uses as few steps as possible, e.g. a direct path
from the origin to (-3,2,-2) takes 7 steps. How many different direct paths are there
from the origin to the point (-3,2,-2)?
1 point

Mississippi Rule: 7! / (3!*2!*2!) = 210

13. In the 3-dimensional grid of points with integer coordinates described in the previous
problem, how many different points can be reached from the origin by direct paths of
exactly 7 steps?
2 points

8*(4+2 2) = 120 points with no zeros,

12*(5+1 1) = 72 points with one zero, and 6*(6+0 0) = 6 points with two zeros
14. (AHSME 1999) Six points on a circle are given. Four of the chords joining pairs of
the six points are selected at random. What is the probability the four chords form a
convex quadrilateral?
1 point

(6 4) / ((6 2) 4) = (6 4) / (15 4) = 1 / 91
15. (AIME 2000B) What is the smallest positive integer with six positive odd integer
divisors and twelve positive even integer divisors?
2 points
2

2 *3 *5 = 180

16. (AMC12 2005) Call a number prime-looking if it is composite but not divisible by 2,
3, or 5. The three smallest prime-looking numbers are 49, 77, and 91. There are
168 prime numbers less than 1000. How many prime-looking numbers are less than
1000?
2 points
D2 = 499, D3 = 333, D5 = 199, D6 = 166, D10 = 99, D15 = 66, D30 = 33
D2or3or5 = 499 + 333 + 199 166 99 66 + 33 = 733
999 - D2or3or5 #(Primes>5) #1 = 999 733 165 1 = 100

17. (AIME 2001) A fair die is rolled four times. What is the probability that each of the
final three rolls is at least as large as the roll preceding it?
2 points
Count non-decreasing sequences: (5+4 4) / 6 = 7 / 72

18. There is a 4x4 grid of intersections made up of the intersections of 1st through 4th
Street and 1st through 4th Avenue in the center of a city which has been blanketed by
snow. All the snow has been cleared by plows except the road sections between
each of the intersections in this grid. A single remaining plow has been sent to clear
this snow and can begin work at any intersection. How many different times must
the plow interrupt work to drive on roads that have already been cleared in order to
finish the job? (If the plow can clear all the snow in one continuous route, your
answer should be 0). Note that after finishing one pass of plowing the plow can
restart plowing at any intersection.
2 points
3
The 4x4 grid has 8 intersections with odd degree. Each plow route eliminates at
most 2 of these, so at least 4 routes are required => 3 interruptions.
19. (AIME 1989) When a certain biased coin is flipped 5 times the probability of getting
exactly one head is the same as that of getting two heads. What is the probability of
getting exactly three heads?
2 points
(5 1)*p*q = (5 2)*p *q => 5q = 10p => p = 1/3.
(5 3)* p3*q2 = 10*(1/3)3*(2/3)2 = 40 / 243
4

20. (AIME 1996) In a five-team tournament, each team plays one game with every
other team. Each team has a 50% chance of winning any game it plays (there are
no ties). What is the probability that the tournament produces neither an undefeated
team nor a winless team?
2 points
6

10

1 (5*2 + 5*2 5*4*2 ) / 2 = 17 / 32

Combinatorics: The Fine Art of Counting

The Final Challenge Part Three Solutions
Whenever the question asks for a probability, enter your answer as either 0, 1, or the sum
of the numerator and denominator of a reduced fraction equal to the probability. For
example if the probability is 0.8 = 4/5, the answer would be 9.

21. A grocery store display consists of a tetrahedral stack of cans of tomato soup.
There is one can on top and each layer below is an equilateral triangle of cans which
has one more can per side than the layer above it. If there are 17 cans per side in
the bottom layer, how many cans are in the stack in total?
1 point

(17+2 3) = 969
22. How many distinct ways can 4 women and 4 men be seated around a circular table
so that the genders alternate? (seating arrangements which are circular rotations of
each other should not be regarded as distinct).
1 point

3!*4! = 144
23. How many distinct ways can 4 men and 4 women who are married couples be
seated around a circular table so that genders alternate and no spouses are
adjacent? (seating arrangements which are circular rotations of each other should
not be regarded as distinct).
1 point
1 2
Seat a man, the women can be seated in 2*3*2 = 12 ways, at which point the
seating of the rest of the men is determined.
24. (AHSME 1997) Two fair six-sided dice are modified so that one has the 3 replaced
by a 4 (so it has two 3s) and one has the 4 replaced by a 3 (so it has two 4s).
When these two dice are rolled, what is the probability that the sum is an odd
number?
1 point

(2/3)*(2/3) + (1/3)*(1/3) = 5 / 9
25. (AIME 2005B) Find the number of positive integers that are divisors of at least one
of 1010, 157, and 1811.
2 points
4
22
2 *5 has 11*11=121, 3 *5 has 8*8=64, 2 *3 has 12*23=276
57 has 8, 210 has 11, 37 has 8, and they all have the divisor 1 in common
121 + 64 + 276 8 11 8 + 1 = 435
10

10

11

26. (AIME 2001B) Club Truncator is in a soccer league with six other teams, each of
which it plays once. In any of its 6 matches, the probabilities that Club Truncator will
win, lose, or tie are each 1/3. What is the probability that Club Truncator finishes the
season with more wins than losses?
3 points
3
P(Winning Season) = P(Losing Season) = (1 P(.500 Season)) / 2
P(.500 Season) = [(6 3) + (6 2,2,2) + (6 4,1,1) + (6 6)] / 36 = 47 / 243
P(Winning Season) = (1 47/243) / 2 = 98 / 243

27. The cuboctahedron is a semi-regular polyhedron which can be constructed by

placing a vertex at the mid-point of each edge of the cube and connecting vertices
which lie on the mid-points of edges adjacent in the cube. It can also be constructed
via the same process starting with an octahedron. Compute the number of faces this
polyhedron has and determine the minimum number of colors required to color the
faces so that no two faces with a common edge have the same color. Multiply this
number times the number of faces and enter the result.
2 points
2 8
The cuboctahedron has 8 triangular faces and 6 square faces, with every vertex
degree 4. The dual of the cuboctahedron contains no odd cycles (every face is a
square), so its vertices can be properly 2-colored, which means the faces of the
cuboctahedron can be 2-colored. 2*14 = 28.
28. (AIME 2003B) A bug starts at a vertex on an equilateral triangle. On each move it
randomly selects one of two vertices where it is not currently located and moves to
that vertex. What is the probability that after 10 moves the bug is back where it
started?
3 points

Count sequences of +1s and -1s which sum to 0 mod 3 (i.e. 0, 3, 6, or 9).
[(10 5) + 0 + 2*(10 8) + 0] / 210 = (252 + 90) / 1024 = 171 / 512
29. A caterpillar graph is a connected graph with no cycles (i.e. a tree) in which the
internal vertices all lie on a path (called the spine). Call a caterpillar leggy if every
internal vertex has degree > 2. How many different (non-isomorphic) leggy
caterpillars are there with 10 vertices.
2 points

There is 1 with 1 internal vertex, 3 with 2, 4 with 3, and 1 with 4.

30. (AIME 1993) Alfred and Bonnie play a game in which they take turns tossing a fair
coin. The winner is the first person to obtain a head. They play this game several
times, with the stipulation that the loser of a game goes first in the next game.
Suppose Alfred goes first in the first game, what is the probability that he wins the 6th
game?
4 points
1 0
3
5
Pk = probability Alfred wins k game. P1 = + (1/2) + (1/2) + = 2/3
Pk = Pk-1*1/3 + (1- Pk-1)*2/3 = 2/3 1/3Pk-1
P2 = 4/9, P3 = 13/27, P4 = 40/81, P5 = 122/243, P6 = 364/729
th

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Combinatorics: The Fine Art of Counting

Summer 2007

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