1. How many different ways can you arrange the letters of the word “MISSISSIPPI”?

2. A restaurant offers 5 appetizers, 8 main courses, and 4 desserts. How many different
three-course meals can be ordered?
3. A baker wants to put 12 identical cookies into 4 different boxes. Each box must
contain at least one cookie. How many ways can this be done?
4. You have 8 identical candies to distribute among 3 children. Each child must receive
at least one candy. How many ways can you distribute the candies?
5. A committee of 4 people needs to be chosen from a group of 7 men and 5 women.
How many ways can the committee be formed if it must consist of exactly 2 men and
2 women?
6. An ice cream shop has 5 different flavors of ice cream. You want to buy 10 scoops.
How many different combinations of scoops can you buy? (You can choose the same
flavor multiple times, and it’s about the total scoops, not the order.)
7. How many different 4-digit PINs can be formed if repetition of digits is allowed?
8. In a race with 10 runners, how many different ways can the gold, silver, and bronze
medals be awarded?
9. There are 6 different books on a shelf. In how many ways can they be arranged?
10. A pizza place offers 8 different toppings. You want to choose 3 different toppings for
your pizza. How many different combinations of toppings can you choose?
11. How many non-negative integer solutions are there to the equation x1 + x2 + x3 + x4
= 10?
12. A school needs to allocate 15 identical laptops to 5 different classrooms. Each
classroom must receive at least one laptop. How many ways can the laptops be
allocated?
13. A gardener has 20 identical seeds to plant in 6 different rows. Each row must have at
least one seed. How many ways can the seeds be planted?
14. A license plate consists of 3 letters followed by 3 digits. How many different license
plates are possible if:
a) Repetition of letters and digits is allowed?
b) Repetition of letters and digits is NOT allowed?
15. In how many ways can 5 boys and 4 girls be arranged in a line if boys and girls must
alternate?
16. A student needs to answer 8 questions out of 10 on an exam. How many choices
does the student have?
17. How many positive integer solutions are there to the equation a + b + c = 11?
18. A charity wants to distribute 18 identical blankets among 4 homeless shelters. Each
shelter must receive at least 2 blankets. How many ways can this be done?
19. You are rolling a standard six-sided die three times. How many outcomes are there
where the sum of the rolls is 10? (Order matters for the rolls themselves, but we’re
looking for compositions to the sum)
20. From a deck of 52 playing cards, how many ways can you choose a hand of 5 cards
that contains exactly 3 aces?
21. In how many ways can 7 identical balls be placed into 3 distinct bins, such that no bin
is empty?
22. You have 4 different colored flags, and you want to arrange them in a sequence on a
flagpole. How many different signals can you create if you use all 4 flags?
23. How many distinct permutations can be made from the letters of the word
“STATISTICS”?
24. How many ways can you answer a 10-question true/false test?
25. There are 6 different routes from city A to city B, and 4 different routes from city B to
city C. How many different ways are there to travel from city A to city C via city B?
26. How many rectangles can we make from?

27. How many triangles can we make from 12 points in a circle?

Answers

Section 1: Multiplication Principle (Fundamental Counting Principle)

Set 1: Stars and Bars (Minimum 1 or 0 constraint)

Solution: This is a permutation with repetitions.

Total letters: 11

M: 1

I: 4

S: 4

P: 2

Number of arrangements = \frac{11!}{1!4!4!2!} = \frac{39,916,800}{1 \times 24 \times 24

\times 2} = \frac{39,916,800}{1152} = 34,650.

* Answer: 34,650 ways

5 \times 8 \times 4 = 160 different meals.

* A baker wants to put 12 identical cookies into 4 different boxes. Each box must contain at
least one cookie. How many ways can this be done?

* Solution: First, give 1 cookie to each of the 4 boxes (4 \times 1 = 4 cookies used).
Remaining cookies: 12 – 4 = 8. Now distribute these 8 cookies among 4 boxes (where boxes
can get 0). Using stars and bars, n=8 (stars), k=4 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{8+4-1}{4-1} = \binom{11}{3} = \frac{11 \times 10 \times 9}{3

\times 2 \times 1} = 11 \times 5 \times 3 = 165.

* Answer: 165 ways

* You have 8 identical candies to distribute among 3 children. Each child must receive at
least one candy. How many ways can you distribute the candies?
 * Solution: First, give 1 candy to each of the 3 children (3 \times 1 = 3 candies used).
Remaining candies: 8 – 3 = 5. Now distribute these 5 candies among 3 children (where
children can get 0). Using stars and bars, n=5 (stars), k=3 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{5+3-1}{3-1} = \binom{7}{2} = \frac{7 \times 6}{2 \times 1} =

21.

* Answer: 21 ways

A committee of 4 people needs to be chosen from a group of 7 men and 5 women. How
many ways can the committee be formed if it must consist of exactly 2 men and 2 women?

* Solution: Choose 2 men from 7: \binom{7}{2} = \frac{7 \times 6}{2 \times 1} = 21.

Choose 2 women from 5: \binom{5}{2} = \frac{5 \times 4}{2 \times 1} = 10.

Total ways = (Ways to choose men) \times (Ways to choose women) = 21 \times 10 = 210.

* Answer: 210 ways

* An ice cream shop has 5 different flavors of ice cream. You want to buy 10 scoops. How
many different combinations of scoops can you buy?

* Solution: This is a classic stars and bars problem where n=10 (scoops/stars) and k=5
(flavors/bins). Since you can choose the same flavor multiple times, it’s equivalent to
distributing 10 identical items into 5 distinct bins where each bin can have 0 items.

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{10+5-1}{5-1} = \binom{14}{4} = \frac{14 \times 13 \times 12

\times 11}{4 \times 3 \times 2 \times 1} = 1001.

* Answer: 1001 combinations

10 \times 10 \times 10 \times 10 = 10^4 = 10,000 different PINs.

In a race with 10 runners, how many different ways can the gold, silver, and bronze medals
be awarded?

* Solution: This is a permutation problem because the order matters (gold is different from
silver, etc.). We are choosing 3 runners from 10 and arranging them.

P(10, 3) = \frac{10!}{(10-3)!} = \frac{10!}{7!} = 10 \times 9 \times 8 = 720.

* Answer: 720 ways

There are 6 different books on a shelf. In how many ways can they be arranged?

* Solution: This is a simple permutation of 6 distinct items.

 6! = 6 \times 5 \times 4 \times 3 \times 2 \times 1 = 720.

* Answer: 720 ways

* A pizza place offers 8 different toppings. You want to choose 3 different toppings for your
pizza. How many different combinations of toppings can you choose?

* Solution: This is a combination problem because the order of choosing toppings doesn’t
matter. We are choosing 3 toppings from 8.

\binom{8}{3} = \frac{8!}{3!(8-3)!} = \frac{8!}{3!5!} = \frac{8 \times 7 \times 6}{3 \times 2

\times 1} = 8 \times 7 = 56.

* Answer: 56 combinations

How many non-negative integer solutions are there to the equation x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4 =
10?

* Solution: This is a direct application of stars and bars with n=10 (sum/stars) and k=4
(variables/bins). Non-negative means x_i \ge 0.

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{10+4-1}{4-1} = \binom{13}{3} = \frac{13 \times 12 \times

11}{3 \times 2 \times 1} = 13 \times 2 \times 11 = 286.

* Answer: 286 solutions

* A school needs to allocate 15 identical laptops to 5 different classrooms. Each classroom

must receive at least one laptop. How many ways can the laptops be allocated?

* Solution: First, give 1 laptop to each of the 5 classrooms (5 \times 1 = 5 laptops used).
Remaining laptops: 15 – 5 = 10. Now distribute these 10 laptops among 5 classrooms (where
classrooms can get 0). Using stars and bars, n=10 (stars), k=5 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{10+5-1}{5-1} = \binom{14}{4} = 1001.

* Answer: 1001 ways

* A gardener has 20 identical seeds to plant in 6 different rows. Each row must have at least
one seed. How many ways can the seeds be planted?

a) 26 \times 26 \times 26 \times 10 \times 10 \times 10 = 26^3 \times 10^3 = 17,576,000

b) 26 \times 25 \times 24 \times 10 \times 9 \times 8 = 11,232,000

 * Solution: First, place 1 seed in each of the 6 rows (6 \times 1 = 6 seeds used). Remaining
seeds: 20 – 6 = 14. Now distribute these 14 seeds among 6 rows (where rows can get 0).
Using stars and bars, n=14 (stars), k=6 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{14+6-1}{6-1} = \binom{19}{5} = \frac{19 \times 18 \times 17

\times 16 \times 15}{5 \times 4 \times 3 \times 2 \times 1} = 19 \times 3 \times 17 \times 2
= 11628.

* Answer: 11628 ways

* Solution: Since there are more boys than girls, the arrangement must start and end with a
boy (B G B G B G B G B).

Arrange the 5 boys: 5! Ways.

Arrange the 4 girls in the spaces: 4! Ways.

Total ways = 5! \times 4! = (120) \times (24) = 2880.

• Answer: 2880 ways

• A student needs to answer 8 questions out of 10 on an exam. How many choices does
the student have?
• * Solution: This is a combination problem because the order of answering questions
doesn’t matter.
• \binom{10}{8} = \binom{10}{10-8} = \binom{10}{2} = \frac{10 \times 9}{2 \times 1} =
45.
• * Answer: 45 choices

* How many positive integer solutions are there to the equation a + b + c = 11?

* Solution: Positive integer solutions mean a, b, c \ge 1. Similar to the “at least one”
problems. First, allocate 1 to each variable. Remaining sum: 11 – 3 = 8. Now find non-
negative solutions to a’ + b’ + c’ = 8. Here n=8 (stars), k=3 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{8+3-1}{3-1} = \binom{10}{2} = \frac{10 \times 9}{2 \times 1}

= 45.

* Answer: 45 solutions

A charity wants to distribute 18 identical blankets among 4 homeless shelters. Each shelter
must receive at least 2 blankets. How many ways can this be done?
 * Solution: First, give 2 blankets to each of the 4 shelters (4 \times 2 = 8 blankets used).
Remaining blankets: 18 – 8 = 10. Now distribute these 10 blankets among 4 shelters (where
shelters can get 0 additional blankets). Using stars and bars, n=10 (stars), k=4 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{10+4-1}{4-1} = \binom{13}{3} = \frac{13 \times 12 \times

11}{3 \times 2 \times 1} = 13 \times 2 \times 11 = 286.

* Answer: 286 ways

* You are rolling a standard six-sided die three times. How many outcomes are there where
the sum of the rolls is 10? (Order matters for the rolls themselves, but we’re looking for
compositions to the sum)

* Solution: This is finding integer solutions to d_1 + d_2 + d_3 = 10, where 1 \le d_i \le 6.

First, use stars and bars for d_i \ge 1: n=10, k=3. Give 1 to each, leaving 10-3=7.
\binom{7+3-1}{3-1} = \binom{9}{2} = 36 total positive integer solutions.

Now, we must subtract cases where any d_i > 6.

Let d_1 \ge 7. Then d_1 = d’_1 + 6. So (d’_1+6) + d_2 + d_3 = 10 \Rightarrow d’_1 + d_2 +
d_3 = 4.

Here n=4, k=3. All d_i \ge 1. Give 1 to each, leaving 4-3=1. \binom{1+3-1}{3-1} =
\binom{3}{2} = 3 solutions.

Since any of d_1, d_2, d_3 could be \ge 7, we multiply by \binom{3}{1} (choose which die
is \ge 7). 3 \times 3 = 9.

Total valid solutions = Total solutions – Solutions with at least one die \ge 7 = 36 – 9 = 27.

* Answer: 27 outcomes (These are the integer partitions of 10 into 3 parts, where each
part is between 1 and 6, and order matters.)

From a deck of 52 playing cards, how many ways can you choose a hand of 5 cards that
contains exactly 3 aces?

* Solution:

Choose 3 aces from the 4 available aces: \binom{4}{3} = 4.

Choose the remaining 2 cards from the non-ace cards (52 – 4 = 48 cards): \binom{48}{2} =
\frac{48 \times 47}{2 \times 1} = 1128.

Total ways = (Ways to choose aces) \times (Ways to choose other cards) = 4 \times 1128 =
4512.

* Answer: 4512 ways

* In how many ways can 7 identical balls be placed into 3 distinct bins, such that no bin is
empty?

* Solution: This is exactly like distributing 7 identical items into 3 distinct bins, with a
minimum of 1 item per bin. First, place 1 ball in each bin (3 \times 1 = 3 balls used).
Remaining balls: 7 – 3 = 4. Now distribute these 4 balls among 3 bins (where bins can get 0
additional balls). Using stars and bars, n=4 (stars), k=3 (bins).

\binom{n+k-1}{k-1} = \binom{4+3-1}{3-1} = \binom{6}{2} = \frac{6 \times 5}{2 \times 1} =

15.

• Answer: 15 ways
Set 2: Permutations and Combinations (Direct Application)

You have 4 different colored flags, and you want to arrange them in a sequence on a
flagpole. How many different signals can you create if you use all 4 flags?

* Solution: This is a permutation of 4 distinct items.

4! = 4 \times 3 \times 2 \times 1 = 24.

* Answer: 24 different signals

Number of permutations = \frac{10!}{3!3!1!2!1!} = \frac{3,628,800}{(6)(6)(1)(2)(1)} =

\frac{3,628,800}{72} = 50,400.

* Answer: 50,400 distinct permutations

* How many different ways can you arrange the letters of the word “MISSISSIPPI”?

* How many distinct permutations can be made from the letters of the word “STATISTICS”?

* Solution: This is a permutation with repetitions.

Total letters: 10
 S: 3

T: 3

A: 1

I: 2

C: 1

* In how many ways can 5 boys and 4 girls be arranged in a line if boys and girls must
alternate?

2^{10} = 1024 ways.

* 6 \times 4 = 24 ways.