MTH152-QA5

#$&*

course MTH 152

2:14 PM , 1 July 2013--- Been out and about lately with yard work and finishing up work for extra money, so I haven't submitted anything in awhile. I plan on testing for Module 1 on Wednesday, July 3.

If your solution to stated problem does not match the given solution, you should self-critique per instructions at

http://vhcc2.vhcc.edu/dsmith/geninfo/labrynth_created_fall_05/levl1_22/levl2_81/file3_259.htm.

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.

005. Binary probabilities

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Question: `q001. Note that there are 12 questions in this assignment.

List the possible outcomes if a fair coin is flipped 2 times.

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Your solution:

- If a fair coin is flipped twice, we have a possible four outcomes.

- (h, t) , (t, h) , (t, t), (h, h)

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: There are 2 coins. Call one of them the first and the other the second coin.

We can get Heads on the first and Heads on the second, which we will designate HH. Or we can get Heads on the first and Tails on the second, which we will designate HT. The other possibilities can be designated TH and TT.

Thus there are 4 possible outcomes: HH, HT, TH and TT.

@&

You are right.

However flipping one coin twice is the same as flipping two coins, in order, one time each.

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Self-critique: There are 2 coins? I thought there was only one coin in question with two sides?

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q002. List the possible outcomes if a fair coin is flipped 3 times.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Your solution:

- Like the previous question, we’ll assume that the coin is fair and thus will either be flipped as:

- (h, t, h) , (h, t, t) , (h, h, h) , (t, h, t) , (t, h, h) , (t, t, t) = 6 options

-

- ** Note ** : there are 8 options here, not 6.

-

- (h, h, t) , (h, t, h) , (t, h, h) , (h, h, h) , (t, t, h), (t, h, t) , (h, t, t) and (t, t, t)

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: The possible results for the first 2 flips are HH, HT, TH and TT. We can obtain all possible results for 3 flips by appending either H or T to this list.

We start out by writing the list twice:

HH, HT, TH, TT

HH, HT, TH, TT

We then append H to each outcome in the first row, and T to each outcome in the second. We obtain

HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT

THH, THT, TTH, TTT

Note that this process shows clearly why the number of possibilities doubles when the number of coins increases by one. With two coins we had 4 possible outcomes and with three coins we had 8 outcomes, twice as many as with two coins.

Self-critique: Maybe I’m missing something, but the listed problem mentions a singular coin, where the Given Solution mentions a number of coins increasing by a factor of 1.

Is this by chance another method of assuming the situation?

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Self-critique rating:

@&

See also my previous note.

The last statement could equivalently have said

"Note that this process shows clearly why the number of possibilities doubles when the number of flips increases by one. With two flips we had 4 possible outcomes and with three flips we had 8 outcomes, twice as many as with two flips."

*@

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Question: `q003. List the possible outcomes if a fair coin is flipped 4 times.

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Your solution:

- Adding to the solution above, you noted that for every subsequent increase in number of coins/number of times the coin is flipped, the outcome doubles. With the preceding outcome being 6, I will say without writing anything down that the outcome for flipping four coins/flipping four times will be = 12.

***

Note that I have listed the previous solution to flipping a coin 3 times as having 8 outcomes. Following this example, 8 * 2 = 16,

- Therefore there are 16 outcomes for flipping a coin 4 times.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: We can follow the same strategy as in the preceding problem. We first list twice all the possibilities for 3 coins:

HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT, THH, THT, TTH, TTT

HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT, THH, THT, TTH, TTT

Then we append H to the front of one list and T to the front of the other:

HHHH, HHHT, HHTH, HHTT, HTHH, HTHT, HTTH, HTTT

THHH, THHT, THTH, THTT, TTHH, TTHT, TTTH, TTTT

Again we see why the number of possibilities doubles when the number of coins increases by one. With three coins we had 8 possible outcomes and with four coins we had 16 outcomes, twice as many as with two coins.

Self-critique: Another awesome pattern. I’m going to try and build a system so that I can form a kind of “evolution” from HHHH to TTTT.

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Self-critique rating:

@&

Neat idea.

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Question: `q004. If a fair coin is flipped 4 times, how many of the outcomes contain exactly two 'heads'?

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Your solution:

- If a fair coin is flipped 4 times (or, going by the pattern in your Given Solutions, 4 coins being flipped) we will end up with 16 outcomes.

- But how can we determine how many outcomes will have exactly 2 ‘heads’?

- Let’s see what I can remember from the prior sections. I try to reason and compare with the ball examples. (combinations and permutations)

- I can list out the 16 options first, given that:

HHHH > HHHT > HHTH > HTHH > THHH > TTHH > HTTH > HHTT > HTHT > THTH > HTTT > THHH > TTHT > THTT > THHT > TTTT

Of this set, I see that the following contain exactly 2 heads:

HHHH > HHHT > HHTH > HTHH > THHH > TTHH > HTTH > HHTT > HTHT > THTH > HTTT > THHH > TTHT > THTT > THHT > TTTT

6 outcomes will contain exactly 2 heads.

But, how would one use the math here, because the circumstance could very well arise that I cannot list all the factors (stemming either from laziness, fatigue, etc. and could be prone to clerical error)

- I know that there are 6 outcomes that will contain 2 heads out of the possible 16.

- So I theorize that:

-

- C(4, 2) = 4 ! / (4 - 2)! * 2! = 4 * 3 / 2 * 1 = 12/2 = 6.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: The two 'heads' can occur in positions 1 and 2 (HHTT), 1 and 3 (HTHT), 1 and 4 (HTTH), 2 and 3 (THHT), 2 and 4 (THTH), or 3 and 4 (TTHH). These six possibilities can be expressed by the sets {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {1, 4}, {2, 3}, {2, 4}, {3, 4}.

Thus the possibilities are represented by sets of two numbers chosen from the set {1, 2, 3, 4}. When choosing 2 numbers from a set of four, there are 4 * 3 / 2 possible combinations. Since in this case it doesn't matter in which order the two positions are picked, this will be the number of possible outcomes with exactly two 'heads'. The number of possibilities is thus C(4, 2) = 6.

Self-critique: Nailed it on the first try. I’ll give myself a high-five in your absence.

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Self-critique rating: ok

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Question: `q005. If a fair coin is flipped 7 times, how many of the outcomes contain exactly three 'heads'?

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Your solution:

- I was first thinking I needed to relay the outcomes for 7 coins/flips, but I realized quickly it wasn’t necessary.

- I jump immediately into collection/permutation mode.

- C (7, 3 ) = 7 * 6 * 5/3 *2 * 1 = 35 outcomes will contain exactly 3 heads.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: The possible positions for the three 'heads' can be numbered 1 through 7. We have to choose three positions out of these seven possibilities, and the order in which our choices occur is not important.

This is equivalent to choosing three numbers from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} without regard for order. This can be done in C(7,3) = 7 * 6 * 5 / 3! = 35 ways.

There are thus 35 ways to obtain 3 'heads' on 7 flips.

Self-critique: Another one-hit wonder. I’m beginning to make connections.

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Self-critique rating: Ok

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Question: `q006. If we flip a fair coin 6 times, in how many ways can we get no 'heads'?

In how many ways can we get exactly one 'head'?

In how many ways can we get exactly two 'heads'?

In how many ways can we get exactly three 'heads'?

In how many ways can we get exactly four 'heads'?

In how many ways can we get exactly five 'heads'?

In how many ways can we get exactly six 'heads'?

In how many ways can we get exactly seven 'heads'?

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Your solution:

- Following the pattern that, for each subsequent increase of coins/flips by 1 = a double in the total number of outcomes, there would be 64 total outcomes (theorized from 4 coins/flips having 16 outcomes, 5 coins/flips having 32 outcomes, then 6 coins/flips having 64 outcomes.)

I also will hypothesize that the number of coins/flips relates to the number of individual ordered possibilities (i.e. 4 coins/flips will have 16 outcomes, where each subsequent combination of possibilities is the number of coins/flips in question.)

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- To get 0 heads, there is only C(6, 0) = 1 way. (One would assume this means (TTTTTT) ]

In how many ways can we get exactly one 'head'?

- To get 1 head, we have C (6, 1) = 6 ways.

In how many ways can we get exactly two 'heads'?

- To get exactly 2 heads, we can see that C (6, 2) = 15 outcomes.

In how many ways can we get exactly three 'heads'?

- C (6, 3) = 20 outcomes yielding exactly 3 heads.

In how many ways can we get exactly four 'heads'?

- C (6,4) = 6! / [ (6 - 4)! * 4! ] = 6 * 5 * 4 * 3/ 4* 3 * 2 * 1 = 6/2 * 5/1 * 4/4 * 3/3 = 3 * 5 * 1 * 1 = 15 outcomes.

In how many ways can we get exactly five 'heads'?

- C (6, 5) = 6! / [ (6 - 5)! * 5! ] = 6! / 1! * 5! = 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 / 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 outcomes.

In how many ways can we get exactly six 'heads'?

- I hypothesize directly that this is also a 1 way outcome, like the 0 head option. Regardless,

C (6, 6) = 6! / [ ( 6 - 6) ! * 6 !] = 6! / 0! * 6! = 6*5*4*3*2*1/6*5*4*3*2*1 = 1

In how many ways can we get exactly seven 'heads'?

- Interesting. Let’s see what the math says.

C(6, 7) = 6! / [ (6 - 7) ! * 7!] = 6! / ( -1! * 7!) = 6*5*4*3*2*1*0 / 7*6*5*4*3*2*1 = 0

Note that the 0! = 1, not 0.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: The number of ways to get no 'heads' is C(6,0) = 1.

The number of ways to get exactly one 'head' is C(6,1) = 6.

The number of ways to get exactly two 'heads' is C(6,2) = 15.

The number of ways to get exactly three 'heads' is C(6,3) = 20.

The number of ways to get exactly four 'heads' is C(6,4) = 15.

The number of ways to get exactly five 'heads' is C(6,5) = 6.

The number of ways to get exactly six 'heads' is C(6,6) = 1.

These numbers form the n = 6 row of Pascal's Triangle:

1 6 15 20 15 6 1

See your text for a description of Pascal's Triangle. Note also that these numbers add up to 64, which is 2^6, the number of possible outcomes when a coin is flipped 6 times.

STUDENT QUESTION

Could you explain this a bit further? I am really confused how these answers are obtained. In the first two I obtained them easily using the counting principal, but afterwards it did not appear to work in obtaining the correct answer and I was very confused.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

You aren't quite specific enough in this question to ensure that I'm answering it in the way you need. However I can expand on this in terms of the details you gave in your solution, and this should be helpful no only to you but to other students:

To get 4 'heads' there are 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 possible ways to distribute their positions among the 6 flips to get them in order.

This could be calculated as 6 ! / (6 - 4) ! = 6 ! / 2 ! = 6 * 5 * 4 * 3.

There are 4! different orders in which the four positions of the 'heads' could have occurred, so there are 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 / (4 * 3 * 2 * 1) unordered ways to obtain those positions.

That could be calculated as 6 ! / (2 ! * 4 !) or, using the formula for combinations, 6 ! / ( (4-2)! * 4!).

Whichever way you calculate it you get 15, which matches the r = 4 position of the n = 6 row of Pascal's triangle.

Similar reasoning will confirm the results for 5 and 6 'heads'.

Let me know if this doesn't answer your question, and if not tell me a little more about what you do and do not understand.

STUDENT COMMENT

The one with the answer one, and the one for the 4 times is the hardest for me for some reason. The others one were so easy

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

It's obvious that only one outcome has no 'heads' (that would be tttttt) and only one has six 'heads (that would be hhhhhh). So the answers to the first and last questions would both be 1, not 0.

However that doesn't help with the calculation.

For the calculation, remember that 0 ! = 1. So for example C(6, 0) = 6! / ( 0! * (6 - 0) !) = 6 ! / (1 * 6 !) = 1.

Self-critique: Everything looks good, except for the specific question asking for 7 heads. See my work above.

I have noted that the factorial expression 0! Is equal to 1, not 0.

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Self-critique rating:

@&

(-1) ! is of course not defined, so that C(6, 7) is not defined.

But the obvious answer is that there is no way to get 7 'Heads' on 6 flips.

Often when a problem is improperly posed (or otherwise impossible) the mathematics breaks down, as it does here.

*@

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Question: `q007. List all the subsets of the set {a, b}.

Then do the same for the set {a,b,c}.

Then do the same for the set {a,b,c,d}.

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Your solution:

- Subset of {a, b}: we must consider neither of them, each of them, and both of them. In other words, it’ll look something like this.

- Empty set{ } , {a} , {b} , {a, b}

- Subset of {a, b, c}: Again, same thing.

We have the empty set { } then each value subsequently in its own subset in combination with the other elements.

{ }, {a}, {b} , {c} , {a, b} , {a,b,c} , {b, c}, {a, c} = 8 subsets

- It follows that, without listing each possible element, the maximum number of elements within the set having been increased by 1 results in the subsequent doubling of the possible number of subsets.

- {a, b, c} has 8 subsets, so therefore {a, b, c, d} will have 16 subsets.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: The set {a, b} has four subsets: the empty set { }, {a}, {b} and {a, b}.

These four sets are also subsets of {a, b, c}, and if we add the element c to each of these four sets we get four different subsets of {a, b, c}.

The subsets are therefore

{}{ }, {a}, {b}, {a, b}, {c}, {a, c}, {b, c} and {a, b, c}.

We see that the number of subsets doubles when the number of elements in the set increases by one.

This seems similar to the way the number of possible outcomes when flipping coins doubles when we add a coin. The connection is as follows:

To form a subset we can go through the elements of the set one at a time, and for each element we can either choose to include it or not. This could be done by flipping a coin once for each element of the set, and including the element if the coin shows 'heads'. Two different sequences of 'heads' and 'tails' would result in two different subsets, and every subset would correspond to exactly one sequence of 'heads' and 'tails'. Thus the number of possible subsets is identical to the number of outcomes from the coin flips.

Self-critique: Why is the empty set considered? When dealing with ordering the elements such as {a, b} why wouldn’t {b,a} be considered? Is this due to the nature of subsets being considered an unordered collection?

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Self-critique rating: Ok. I’m good on finding the solutions, just had a few questions.

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Question: `q008. How many subsets would there be of the set {a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h}?

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Your solution:

- Taking from the preceding example of each subsequent increase in the number of elements of a set, we will have 256 possible outcomes (stemming from 16 being the number of outcomes out of the set {a, b, c, d} with four additional elements, my hypothesis is that this directly relates to 2^4 power, 16 * 16 = 256

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: There are 2 possible subsets of the set {a}, the subsets being { } and {a, b}.

The number doubles with each additional element.

It follows that for a set of 2 elements there are 2 * 2 subsets (double the 2 subsets of a one-element set), double this or 2 * 2 * 2 subsets of a set with 3 elements, double this or 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 subsets of a set with 4 elements, etc..

There are thus 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 256 subsets of the given set, which has 8 elements. This number is also written as 2^8.

}{More generally there are 2^n subsets of any set with n elements.

Self-critique: Awesome! Had a mathematical epiphany and it turned out to be right. Maybe my mathematical instincts are becoming stronger.

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Self-critique rating: Doing great. Confidence level is definitely increasing with this.

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Question: `q009. How many 4-element subsets would there be of the set {a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h}?

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Your solution:

- My initial reaction is to use the following equation:

- C(8,4) = 8! / [ (8 - 4) ! * 4! ] = 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 / 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 8/4 * 7/1 * 6/3 *5/2 = 2 * 7 * 2 * 2.5 = 70.

- So there would be 70 4-element subsets for the set { a, b, c, d, e, f, g}

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: To form a 4-elements subset of the given 8-elements set, we have to choose 4 elements from the 8. Since the order of elements in a set does not matter, order will not matter in our choice.

The number of ways to choose 4 elements from a set of 8, without regard for order, is C(8, 4) = 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 / ( 4 * 3 * 2 * 1) = 70.

Self-critique: Got another one right the first go.

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q010. How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 4 elements?

How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 3 elements?

How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 2 elements?

How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 1 elements?

How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain no elements?

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Your solution:

- How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 4 elements?

- C(4, 4) = 1

-

- How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 3 elements?

- C(4,3) = 4! / [ (4 - 3)! * 3!] = 4 * 3 * 2 / 3 * 2 * 1 = 4/2 * 3/3 *2/1 = 2 * 1 * 2 = 4.

- How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 2 elements?

- C(4,2) = 6 *mental*

- How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain 1 elements?

- C(4,1) = 4! / [ (4 - 1)! * 1!] = 4! / (3! * 1! ) = 4 / 1 = 4

- How many subsets of the set {a,b,c,d} contain no elements?

- 1.

-

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution: The number of 4-element subsets is C(4,4) = 1.

The number of 3-element subsets is C(4,3) = 4.

The number of 2-element subsets is C(4,2) = 6.

The number of 1-element subsets is C(4,1) = 4.

The number of 0-element subsets is C(4,0) = 1.

We note that these numbers form the n = 4 row 1 4 6 4 1 of Pascal's Triangle, and that they add up to 2^4 = 16, the number of possible subsets of a 4-element set.

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Question: `q011. If a coin is flipped 8 times:

How many possible outcomes are there?

How many of these outcomes include exactly five 'heads'?

(Optional: What is the probability of obtaining exactly five 'heads' when flipping 8 coins?)

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Your solution:

- How many possible outcomes are there?

- 2 ^ 8 = 256

- How many of these outcomes include exactly five 'heads'?

- C(8,5) = 8! / [ ( 8 - 5)! * 5!] = 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 * 4 / 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 8/4 * 7/1 * 6/3 * 5/5 * 4/2 = 2 * 7 * 2 * 1 * 2 = 56

- (Optional: What is the probability of obtaining exactly five 'heads' when flipping 8 coins?)

- 256/56 = 4.571428571 = 45.7 % chance

-

confidence rating #$&*:

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Question: `q012. How many five-memeber subsets are there of the set {a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h}?

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Your solution:

- C(8,5) = 56.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Self-critique Rating: Ok.

"

Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

&#This looks good. See my notes. Let me know if you have any questions. &#