Assignment 5

course Mth 152

I am having some trouble with these problems but I am going to spend some extra time working some of the problems in the book to become for familiar and comfortable with them.

??????????????assignment #005005. Binary probabilities

Liberal Arts Mathematics II

02-08-2009

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18:03:56

`q001. Note that there are 10 questions in this assignment.

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

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RESPONSE -->

A fair coin has two sides and each of the two flips would have a possibility of recieving one of two outcomes, therefore 2 * 2 = 4 possible outcomes.

confidence assessment: 3

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18:05:47

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.

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RESPONSE -->

My answer is correct.

self critique assessment: 3

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18:08:44

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

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RESPONSE -->

Each of the three coins have a possibility of two different outcomes, therefore

fh

ft

sh

st

th

tt

are the different outcomes. 3 * 2 = 6

confidence assessment: 3

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18:23:31

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.

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RESPONSE -->

In this question we build upon the information obtained in the first question, by using the results of past question we can simply added a t and an h outcome to each of the previous outcomes to show 2 * 2 * 2 = 8

self critique assessment: 2

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18:26:55

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

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RESPONSE -->

If I consider that there a 2 possibile outcomes to each of the 4 flips that would give us 2^4 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 16 possible outcomes

confidence assessment: 3

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18:27:12

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.

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RESPONSE -->

My answer is correct.

self critique assessment: 3

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18:33:29

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

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RESPONSE -->

There are 16 total outcomesif a fair coin is flipped 4 times. Of those 16 outcomes 6 will contain exactly two heads.

confidence assessment: 3

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18:34:29

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.

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RESPONSE -->

My answer is correct.

self critique assessment: 3

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18:41:17

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

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RESPONSE -->

2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 128

7 * 6 / 3 =14

confidence assessment: 3

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18:43:17

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.

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RESPONSE -->

I understand that by using the factorial properties of numbers this answer can be reached.

self critique assessment: 3

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22:08:07

`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'?

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RESPONSE -->

C(6,0)=6/0=0

C(6,1)=6/1!=6

C(6,2)=6*5/2!=30/2*1=15

confidence assessment: 2

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22:09:27

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

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RESPONSE -->

C(6,3)=6*5*4/3!=120/3*2*1=120/6=20

confidence assessment: 3

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22:12:12

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

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

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RESPONSE -->

C(6,4)=6*5*4*3/4!=360/4*3*2*1=360/24=15

C(6,5)=6*5*4*3*2/5!=720/5*4*3*2*1=720/120=6

confidence assessment: 3

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22:13:22

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

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RESPONSE -->

C(6,6)=6*5*4*3*2*1/6!=720/720=1

confidence assessment: 3

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22:14:58

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

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RESPONSE -->

C(6,7)=6*5*4*3*2*1/7!=720/5040=not possible

confidence assessment: 1

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22:15:43

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.

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RESPONSE -->

My answers were correct.

self critique assessment: 3

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22:24:39

`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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RESPONSE -->

confidence assessment: 1

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22:26:17

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.

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RESPONSE -->

This is very confusing to me I am going to keep working on this type of problem until I understand better.

self critique assessment: 2

&#You did not answer the given question. You need to always at least explain what you do and do not understand about the question. A phrase-by-phrase analysis is generally required when you cannot otherwise answer a question.

&#

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22:27:47

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

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RESPONSE -->

8!=8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1=40,320

confidence assessment: 3

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22:30:17

There are 2 possible subsets of the set {a}, the subsets being { } and {a}.

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.

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RESPONSE -->

Again I am not understanding I will keep working on this.

Why would set (a) include (a,b) as a subset?

self critique assessment: 2

{a,b} would not be a subset of {a}.

The first line should have read

'There are 2 possible subsets of the set {a}, the subsets being { } and {a}.'

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22:31:27

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

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RESPONSE -->

8 elements*4elements=32?

confidence assessment: 1

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22:33:06

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.

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RESPONSE -->

Ok I understand this is a combination problem after reading the correct answer.

self critique assessment: 2

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22:38:43

`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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RESPONSE -->

C(4,4)=4*3*2*1/4!=1

C(4,3)=4*3*2*1/3!=4

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

C(4,1)=4*3*2*1/1!=24

C(4,0)=4*3*2*1/0!=24

confidence assessment: 3

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22:40:15

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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RESPONSE -->

On the last couple of problems I forgot to do the factorial division, but I do understand these problems.

self critique assessment: 2

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&#Good responses. See my notes and let me know if you have questions. &#