Counting

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course Mth 152

I need to know how to access the access page. 9/22/14 at 10:18

If your solution to stated problem does not match the given solution, you should self-critique per instructions athttp://vhcc2.vhcc.edu/dsmith/geninfo/labrynth_created_fall_05/levl1_22/levl2_81/file3_259.htm.

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Those instructions were sent with your code. I've sent you a copy of that email.

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Your solution, attempt at solution.

If you are unable to attempt a solution, give a phrase-by-phrase interpretation of the problem along with a statement of what you do or do not understand about it. This response should be given, based on the work you did in completing the assignment, before you look at the given solution.

001. Counting

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Question: `q001. Note that there are 16 questions in this assignment.

List all possible 3-letter 'words' that can be formed from the set of letters { a, b, c } without repeating any of the letters. Possible 'words' include 'acb' and 'bac'; however 'aba' is not permitted here because the letter 'a' is used twice (i.e., repeated).

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Your solution:

abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, cba

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 2 'words' that can be formed starting with the first letter, a. They are abc and acb.

There are 2 'words' that can be formed starting with the second letter, b. They are bac and bca.

There are 2 'words' that can be formed starting with the third letter, c. They are cab and cba.

Note that this listing is systematic in that it is alphabetical: abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, cba.

When listing things it is usually a good idea to be as systematic as possible, in order to avoid duplications and omissions.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: 'q002. List all possible 3-letter 'words' that can be formed from the set of letters { a, b, c } if we allow repetition of letters. Possible 'words' include 'acb' and 'bac' as before; now 'aba' is permitted, as is 'ccc'.

Also specify how many words you listed, and how you could have figured out the result without listing all the possibilities.

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Your solution:

acb, abc, aaa, aac, aab, aba, abb, acc, aca

bac, bca, bbb, bba, bbc, bab, baa, bcc, bcb

ccc, cca, ccb, caa, cab, cac, cba, cbb, cbc

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

Listing alphabetically:

The first possibility is aaa.

The next two possibilities start with aa. They are aab and aac.

There are 3 possibilities that start with ab: aba, abb and abc.

Then there are 3 more starting with ac: aca, acb and acc.

These are the only possible 3-letter 'words' from the set that with a. Thus there are a total of 9 such 'words' starting with a.

There are also 9 'words' starting with b: again listing in alphabetical order we have.baa, bab, bac; bba, bbb, bbc; bca, bcb and bcc

There are finally 9 'words' starting with c: caa, cab, cac; cba, cbb, cbc; cca, ccb, ccc.

We see that there are 9 + 9 + 9 = 27 possible 3-letter 'words'.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q003. If we form a 3-letter 'word' from the set {a, b, c}, not allowing repetitions, then:

•How many choices do we have for the first letter chosen?

•How many choices do we then have for the second letter?

•How many choices do we therefore have for the 2-letter 'word' formed by the first two letters chosen?

•How many choices are then left for the third letter?

•How many choices does this make for the 3-letter 'word'?

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Your solution:

1. We have two choices for the first letter because there are only two other letters, so if you take one away that leaves you with two. ab, ba

2. We have two choices for the first letter because there are only two letters, just like above, if you take one letter away it would automatically leave you with two options. bc, cb

3. I think we would have six choices that would be able to form the first two letters chosen because you can only have so many different words when you have only 6 letters. ab, ba, ac, ca, bc, cb

4. There would be two choice left for the thrid letter if we have already used the other two letters in the above questions. ca, cb

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There are only three letters to choose from. Having chosen the first two, there is only one choice for the third.

Of course there are six possible choices of the first two, but for each of these choices there is no alternative for the third letter.

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5. We could now have six possible choices for a three letter word. abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, cba

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 3 choices for the first letter. The choices are a, b and c.

Recall that repetition is not permitted. So having chosen the first letter, whichever letter is chosen, there are only 2 possible choices left when we choose the second.

The question arises whether there are now 2 + 3 = 5 or 3 * 2 = 6 possibilities for the first two letters chosen.

•The correct answer is 3 * 2 = 6. This is because for each of the 3 possible choices for the first letter, there are 2 possible choices for the second.

[ This result illustrates the Fundamental Counting Principal: If we make a number of distinct choices in a sequence, the total number of possibilities is the product of the numbers of possibilities for each individual choice. ]

Returning to the original Self-critique (if necessary):

•By the time we get to the third letter, we have only one letter left, so there is only one possible choice for our third letter.

•Thus the first two letters completely determine the third, and there are still only six possibilites.

•The Fundamental Counting Principal confirms this: the total number of possibilities is the product 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 of the numbers of possibilities for each of the sequential choices.

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Self-critique (if necessary): I am not understanding this question very well. #3, #4, and #5. I will definitely need help understanding this one. ???

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Self-critique Rating: 1

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Check my note, and if you have additional specific questions feel free to submit them using the Question Form.

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Question: `q004. Check your answer to the last problem by listing the possibilities for the first two letters. Does your answer to that question match your list?

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Your solution:

Since I didn't understand the last question, I am not sure how I would answer this one, so I will need help with this one as well.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

Listing helps clarify the situation.

The first two letters could be ab, ac, ba, bc, ca or cb.

Having determined the first two, the third is determined: for example if the first to letters are ba the third must be c.

The possibilities for the three-letter 'words' are thus abc, acb, bac, bca, cab and cba.

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Self-critique (if necessary): I need help understanding all of this???

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From work you've submitted before it seems clear that you could list the possibilities for the first two letters, which are

ab, ac, ba, bc, ca, cb.

You need to tell me in detail what you do and do not understand about the given solution, so I can address the point at which you run into difficulty.

`` Can you deconstruct the given solution in detail by addressing each paragraph, telling me what you think it means and what it has to do with the solution, or alternatively telling me as best you can what you do not understand about each sentence, each phrase? You might not have time to do this for the entire solution, and it might not be profitable for you to do so until you have my feedback on the earlier parts of that solution. But I recommend that you spend 15 minutes or so doing as much as you can, and submitting a copy of the problem, including this note, the given solution, and your best 15-minute effort.

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q005. If we form a 3-letter 'word' from the set {a, b, c}, allowing repetitions, then

How many choices do we have for the first letter chosen?

How many choices do we then have for the second letter?

How many choices do we therefore have for the 2-letter 'word' formed by the first two letters chosen?

How many choices are then left for the third letter?

How many choices does this make for the 3-letter 'word'?

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Your solution:

1. There are 3 choices for the first letter chosen. Because we have three letters we would use it three different ways.

2. As stated in answer #1, there are going to be 3 choices because of the three different letters.

3. After the first letter has been taken away then there would be 2 two letter words. bc, cb

4. As started before in answer one and two, since there are three letters then there would be three possiblities for third letter as well.

5. Since there are three different letters we should times those three letters everytime so the equation would be 3*3*3= 27 choices for the 3 letter word.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

As before there are 3 choices for the first letter.

However this time repetition is permitted so there are also 3 choices available for the second letter and 3 choices for the third.

By the Fundamental Counting Principal there are therefore 3 * 3 * 3 = 27 possibilities.

Note that this result agrees with result obtained earlier by listing.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating: I need help understanding questrion #3.

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Hopefully my note helped.

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Question: `q006. If we were to form a 3-letter 'word' from the set {a, b, c, d}, without allowing a letter to be repeated, then

How many choices would we have for the first letter chosen?

How many choices would we then have for the second letter?

How many choices would we therefore have for the 2-letter 'word' formed by the first two letters chosen?

How many choices would then be left for the third letter?

How many possibilities does this make for the 3-letter 'word'?

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Your solution:

1. If we were to allow all letters to make a word, it would be, abcd, bacd, cabd, and dacb.

2. We would then have 3 choices for the second letter.

3.We would have two choices for a two letter word formed with the first two letters.

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There are more than two choices. In fact the Fundamental Counting Principle tells us that there are 4 * 3 = 12 possible choices.

You could list them. ab, ac, ad are three of the 12 possible choices.

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4.Same as above, there would be two choices because the last two letters would be cd, dc.

5. I think we could use a,b,c and d four different times and make them not be repeated so my answer would be 4+4+4+4= 16 different ways to make a three letter word.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

•The first letter chosen could be any of the 4 letters in the set.

•The second choice could then be any of the 3 letters that remain.

•The third choice could then be any of the 2 letters that still remain.

By the Fundamental Counting Principal there are thus 4 * 3 * 2 = 24 possible three-letter 'words' which can be formed from the original 4-letter set, provided repetitions are not allowed.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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&#Your response did not agree with the given solution in all details, and you should therefore have addressed the discrepancy with a full self-critique, detailing the discrepancy and demonstrating exactly what you do and do not understand about the parts of the given solution on which your solution didn't agree, and if necessary asking specific questions (to which I will respond).

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q007. List the 3-letter 'words' you can form from the set {a, b, c, d}, without allowing repetition of letters within a word. Does your list confirm your answer to the preceding question?

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Your solution:

If we were to use different three letter words it would be like this:

dab, dac, dbc, dba, dca, dcb

cab, cba, cad, cbd, cda, cdb

abc, acb, acd, abd, adc, adb

bac, bca, bad, bca, bda, bdc

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

Listing alphabetically we have

abc, abd, acb, acdb, adb, adc;

bac, bad, bca, bcd, bda, bdc;

cab, cad, cba, cbd, cda, cdb;

dab, dac, dba, dbc, dca, dcb.

There are six possibilities starting with each of the four letters in the set.

We therefore have a list of 4 * 6 = 24 possible 3-letter words.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q008. Imagine three boxes:

•The first contains a set of billiard balls numbered 1 through 15.

•The second contains a set of letter tiles with one tile for each letter of the alphabet.

•The third box contains colored rings, one for each color of the rainbow (these colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, abbreviated ROY G BIV).

If one object is chosen from each box, how many possibilities are there for the collection of objects chosen?

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Your solution:

1 out of 7 for colors of the rainbow.

1 out of 15 with the billard balls

1 out of 26 letters for the alphabet

If we were to choose an object from each box, the the equation would be 15*26*7 which would equal 2, 730.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 15 possible choices from the first box, 26 from the second, and 7 from the third.

By the Fundamental Counting Principle, the total number of possibilities is therefore 15 * 26 * 7 = 2730.

It would be possible to list the possibilities. Using the numbers 1, 2, …, 15 for the balls, the lower-case letters a, b, c, …, z for the letter tiles, and the upper-case letters R, O, Y, G, B, I, V for the colors of the rings, the following would be an outline of the list:

1 a R, 1 a O, 1 a Y, ..., 1 a V (seven choices, one for each color starting with ball 1 and the ‘a’ tile)

1 b R, 1 b O, ..., 1 b V, (seven choices, one for each color starting with ball 1 and the ‘b’ tile)

1 c R, 1 c O, ..., 1 c V, (seven choices, one for each color starting with ball 1 and the ‘c’ tile)

… … continuing through the rest of the alphabet …

1 z R, 1 z O, …, 1 z V, (seven choices, one for each color starting with ball 1 and the ‘z’ tile)

… (this completes all the possible choices with Ball #1; there are 26 * 7 choices, one for each letter-color combination)

2 a R, 2 a O, ..., 2 a V,

2 z R, 2 z ), …, 2 z V

… (consisting of the 26 * 7 possibilities if the ball chosen is #2)

etc., etc.

15 a R, 15 a O, ..., 15 a V,

15 z R, 15 z ), …, 15 z V

… (consisting of the 26 * 7 possibilities if the ball chosen is #15)

If the complete list is filled out, it should be clear that it will consist of 15 * 26 * 7 possibilities.

•To actually complete this listing would be possible, not really difficult, but impractical because it would take hours and would be prone to clerical errors.

The Fundamental Counting Principle ensures that our result 15 * 26 * 7 is accurate.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q009. For the three boxes of the preceding problem, how many of the possible 3-object collections contain an odd number?

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Your solution:

Well if there were 15 boxes then that would equal 8 odd numbers.

One, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

Only the balls are numbered.

•Of the 15 balls in the first box, 8 are labeled with odd numbers.

•There are thus 8 possible choices from the first box which will result in the presence of an odd number.

The condition that our 3-object collection include an odd number places no restriction on our second and third choices, since no number are represented in either of those boxes. We are unrestricted in our choice any of the 26 letters of the alphabet and any of the seven colors of the rainbow.

•The number of possible collections which include an odd number is therefore 8 * 26 * 7 = 1456.

Note that this is a little more than half of the 2730 unrestricted possibilities.

•Thus if we chose randomly from each box, we would have a little better than a 50% chance of obtaining a collection which includes an odd number.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q010. For the three boxes of the preceding problem, how many of the possible collections contain an odd number and a vowel?

Your solution:

If we take the first box of billard balls which is 1 out of 15, then we would have eight possible choices for the collection. In the alphabet box of 1 out of 26, it has 5 possible choices for vowels which are A, E, I, O, and U. In the rainbow color box of 1 out of 7, there are

seven choices of odd and vowels in the collection.

So, if we take right from the billard balls, 5 from the alphabet, and seven from the rainbow colors, then the equation would look like this; 8*7*5= 280 possible collections that contain an odd number and a vowel.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

In this case we have 8 possible choices from the first box and, if we consider only a, e, i, o and u to be vowels, we have only 5 possible choices from the second box. We still have 7 possible choices from the third box.

•The number of acceptable 3-object collections is now only 8 * 5 * 7 = 280, just a little over 1/10 of the 2730 unrestricted possibilities.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q011. For the three boxes of the preceding problem, how many of the possible collections contain an even number, a consonant and one of the first three colors of the rainbow?

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Your solution:

In the three boxes, there are 7 even numbers between 1 and 15. I know that because there were 8 odd numners between them.

There are 21 consonants in the alphabet since 5 of them are vowels.

If we take the first three colors of the rainbow then we have 3 options, so the equation would say;

7*21*3= 441 possible collections that contain and even number, a consonant, and one of the first three colors of the rainbow.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 7 even numbers between 1 and 15, and if we count y as a conontant there are 21 consonants in the alphabet.

•There are therefore 7 * 21 * 3 = 441 possible 3-object collections containing an even number, a consonant, and one of the first three colors of rainbow.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question: `q012. For the three boxes of the preceding problem, how many of the possible collections contain an even number or a vowel?

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Your solution:

My self-citique is where I explain everything.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 7 * 26 * 7 = 1274 collections which contain an even number.

There are 15 * 5 * 7 = 525 collections which contain a vowel.

It would seem that there must therefore be 1274 + 525 = 1799 collections which contain one or the other.

However, this is not the case:

Some of the 1274 collections containing an even number also contain a vowel, and are therefore included in the 525 collections containing vowels.

If we add the 1274 and the 525 we are counting each of these even-number-and-vowel collections twice.

We can correct for this error by determining how many of the collections in fact contain an even number AND a vowel.

This number is easily found by the Fundamental Counting Principle to be 7 * 5 * 7 = 245.

All of these 245 collections would be counted twice if we added 1274 to 525.

Therefore if we subtract this number from the sum 1274 + 525, we will have the correct number of collections.

The number of collections containing an even number or a vowel is therefore 1274 + 525 - 245 = 1555.

This is an instance of the formula

•n(A U B) = n(A) + n(B) - n(A ^ B),

where A U B is the union of sets A and B and A^B is their intersection, and n(S) stands for the number of objects in the set S.

As the rule is applied here, A is the set of collections containing an even number and B the set of collections containing a vowel, so that A U B is the set of all collections containing a letter or a vowel, and A ^ B is the set of collections containing a vowel and a consonant.

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Self-critique (if necessary): I am really confused on how many more vowels and even numbers there are compared to the odd numbers/ vowels.

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There are 5 vowels: a, e, i, o and u.

Between 1 and 15 there are 8 odd numbers and 7 even numbers. These could easily be listed.

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Self-critique Rating:

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Question:

`q013. For the three boxes of the preceding problems, if we choose two balls from the first box, then a tile from the second and a ring from the third, how many possible collections are there?

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Your solution:

I dont understand this either. I need help??? The whole question doesnt make sense to me.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 15 possibilities for the first ball chosen, which leaves 14 possibilities for the second.

There are 26 possibilities for the tile and 7 for the ring.

We thus have 15 * 14 * 26 * 7 possibilities.

However the problem as stated is specifies a collection of objects. The word 'collection' specifies how we are to treat the objects.

If we were going to place the items in the order chosen, then there would be 15 * 14 * 26 * 7 possibilities. For example, if balls 7 and 12 were chosen, the ordered choice would look different if ball 7 was placed before ball 12 than if they were placed in the reverse order.

However a collection is not ordered. For a collection, it's as if we're just going to toss the items into bag with no regard for order, so it doesn't matter which ball is chosen first. Since the two balls in any given collection could have been chosen in either of two orders, there are only half as many possible collections as there are ordered choices.

In this case, since the order in which the balls are chosen doesn’t matter, then our answer would that we have just 15 * 14 * 26 * 7 / 2 possible unordered collections.

(By contrast, if the order did matter, which is does not for a collection, then our answer would be that there are 15 * 14 * 26 * 7 possible ordered choices.)

STUDENT QUESTION

I don’t understand what you mean by the /2 at the end of the first part if you say the order

chosen doesn’t matter. Why are you dividing by 2? Is that because you are picking two and then the order doesn’t matter

at all effectively halving the choices?

Your statement is correct.

As a concrete example:

If you had 4 numbered balls, then there would be 12 ordered choices: 12, 13, 14, 21, 23, 24, 31, 32, 34 and 41, 42, 43.

However, for example, the unordered choice where balls 1 and 2 are chosen could have occurred in either order, 12 or 21. Since the ordered choices 12 and 21 consist of the same two balls, they therefore correspond to only one unordered choice or collection.

Similarly 13 and 31 would correspond to one unordered choice, as would 14 and 41, 23 and 32, 24 and 42, 34 and 43.

Thus our twelve ordered choices 'collapse' into six unordered choices or collections.

The unordered choices could be expressed as 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34, where the order of the two numbers in each choice has no meaning (e.g., 12 simply means that balls 1 and 2 were chosen, not that they were chosen in that order).

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique Rating:

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``The first three sentences of the given solution are

There are 15 possibilities for the first ball chosen, which leaves 14 possibilities for the second.

There are 26 possibilities for the tile and 7 for the ring.

We thus have 15 * 14 * 26 * 7 possibilities.

What is the first sentence you aren't sure you understand, and what is your thinking on that sentence?

If you understand all three of these sentences, then what is the first sentence of the given solution you do not fully understand, and what is your thinking on it?

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Question: `q014. For the three boxes of the preceding problems, if we choose only from the first box, and choose three balls, how many possible ways are there to make our choice?

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Your solution:

I dont understand this. I need help??? The whole question doesnt make sense to me???

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

There are 15 possibilities for the first ball chosen, 14 for the second, and 13 for the third. If the choices are going to be placed in the order chosen there are therefore 15 * 14 * 13 possible outcomes. That is, there are 15 * 14 * 13 ordered choices.

On the other hand, if the collections are going to be just tossed into a container with no regard for order, then there are fewer possible outcomes.

Whatever three objects are chosen, they could have been chosen in any of 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 possible orders (there are 3 choices for the first of the three objects that got chosen, 2 choices for the second and only 1 choice of the third).

So if the order of choice is not important, then there are only 1/6 as many possibilities.

Thus if the order in which the objects are chosen doesn't matter, there are only 15 * 14 * 13 / 6 possible outcomes.

A briefer summary:

There are 15 * 14 * 13 ordered choices of three objects.

For any three objects, they could appear in 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 possible orders. So the same three objects appear 6 different times among the ordered choices.

There are thus only 1/6 as many unordered choices, or collections, as ordered choices.

The number of possible collections is therefore 15 * 14 * 13 / 6.

STUDENT COMMENT

I think I understand how this works sort of but a little bit of clarification on what to do with more than 3 choices (the example given in the solution) would help me out understanding this more clearly. I think I have an idea though.

If we chose 5 balls instead of 3, they could appear in 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 120 different orders.

There would be 15 * 14 * 13 * 12 * 11 possible ordered choices of 5 balls, chosen from the 15.

So there would be 15 * 14 * 13 * 12 * 11 / (5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1) collections of 5 balls, chosen from the 15.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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`` The first three sentences of the given solution are

There are 15 possibilities for the first ball chosen, 14 for the second, and 13 for the third.

If the choices are going to be placed in the order chosen there are therefore 15 * 14 * 13 possible outcomes. That is, there are 15 * 14 * 13 ordered choices.

On the other hand, if the collections are going to be just tossed into a container with no regard for order, then there are fewer possible outcomes.

If you understand all three of these sentences, then what is the first sentence of the given solution you do not fully understand, and what is your thinking on it?

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STUDENT QUESTION:

I’m a little confused about when the order of choice is not important. Because, if you are choosing 3 different objects,

and it doesn’t matter what order you chose them in, wouldn’t you still have the same number of possibilities? You would

choose one object, and there would be 14 left, and chose the 2nd object, and there would be 13 left for the third choice.

I’m sure I’m just not looking at this in the right manner. Is there any way you could explain it a little better?

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE: You would have the same number of ordered possibilities, and you would begin by calculating this number.

If the choices are unordered, though, you have to divide this result by the number of ways in which the same objects could be chosen, but in different orders.

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Question: `q015. How many three-letter 'words' can be formed from the set {a, b, c, d, e}, if letters cannot repeat?

In how many of these words will the three letters be in alphabetical order?

How many three-letter 'words' are possible if any letter can be used as many times as desired?

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Your solution:

I need help with this one as well???

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You should be able to list these words. abc, abd, abe, acd, ace and ade are the ones that start with a.

See if you can complete the list.

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Question: `q016. From the three boxes encountered in the earlier sequence of questions, if one object is chosen from each box, in how many ways can the chosen objects consist of even-numbered billiard ball, a vowel, and a color other than red, orange or yellow?

What is the probability that a random choice of three of the objects will consist of an even number, a vowel, and a color other than red, orange or yellow?

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Your solution:

I need help with this one too???

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How many even-numbered billiard balls are there?

How many vowels?

How many colors, and how many other than red, orange or yellow?

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confidence rating #$&*:

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Self-critique Rating:

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In general, when you don't understand a situation, you need to give me more information about your thinking, and you need to self-critique in terms of the given solution. Done correctly, this in itself will help you understand, and the information will also help me focus specifically on what you need me to tell you. Without that information all I could do is basically repeat the given solution.

In any case I've inserted several notes illustrating what I mean, and also hints on each of the last two questions.

I suggest that you might want to simply resubmit this document, according to the following guidelines:

&#Please see my notes and submit a copy of this document with revisions, comments and/or questions, and mark your insertions with &&&& (please mark each insertion at the beginning and at the end).

Be sure to include the entire document, including my notes.

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