Chapter 15 Cardinality Rules508
Problem 15.37.
According to the Multinomial Theorem 15.7.2,.x 1 Cx 2 C Cxk/ncan be
expressed as a sum of terms of the form
n
r 1 ;r 2 ;:::;rk
!
x 1 r^1 x 2 r^2 :::xkrk:
(a)How many terms are there in the sum?
(b)The sum of these multinomial coefficients has an easily expressed value:
X
r 1 Cr 2 CCrkDn;
ri 2 N
n
r 1 ; r 2 ; :::; rk
!
Dkn (15.24)
Give a combinatorial proof of this identity.
Hint:How many terms are there when.x 1 Cx 2 CCxk/nis expressed as a sum
of monomials inxibeforeterms with like powers of these variables are collected
together under a single coefficient?
Problems for Section 15.12
Class Problems
Problem 15.38.
Solve the following problems using the pigeonhole principle. For each problem,
try to identify thepigeons, thepigeonholes, and aruleassigning each pigeon to a
pigeonhole.
(a)In a certain Institute of Technology, Every ID number starts with a 9. Suppose
that each of the 75 students in a class sums the nine digits of their ID number.
Explain why two people must arrive at the same sum.
(b)In every set of 100 integers, there exist two whose difference is a multiple of
37.
(c)For any five points inside a unit square (not on the boundary), there are two
points at distanceless than1=
p
2.
(d)Show that ifnC 1 numbers are selected fromf1;2;3;:::;2ng, two must be
consecutive, that is, equal tokandkC 1 for somek.