UNIVERSITY OF MALTA UNIVERSITY OF MALTA

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Department of Mathematics

B.Sc. Part I

January Session 1995


MA171 Combinatorics 30 January 1995

0900-1015


Answer TWO questions


1. (a) Write down the coefficient of xk in the expansion of (1-x)-4 in ascending powers of x.


(b) Let S(n,k) denote the number of ways of partitioning an n-set into k parts. Prove that

S(n,k) = S(n-1,k-1)+kS(n-1,k),        (1 < k < n).


(c) In how many ways can six identical balls be distributed amongst four distinguishable boxes so that no box is empty?


(d) In how many ways can six distinguishable balls be distributed amongst four distinguishable boxes so that no box is empty?



2. (a) Let p(n) denote the number of partitions of the positive integer n and let p(n|P) denote the number of partitions satisfying a given property P. Write down the generating function for p(n).

Let k ³ 1 be fixed, let P1 be the property ``No part in the partition appears more than k times'' and let P2 be the property ``No part in the partition is divisible by k+1''. Prove that p(n|P1) = p(n|P2).


(b) Let A1,A2,...,An be finite sets, and let ai denote the sum of the cardinalities of the intersections of the sets taken i at a time. Prove that

|A1ÈA2È...ÈAn| = n
å
i = 1 
ai(-1)i+1.

Let N = {1,2,...,2n}. Show that the number of permutations f on N with the property f(2i) ¹ 2i, 1 £ i £ n is given by

(2n)! n
å
i = 0 
æ
ç
è
n
i
ö
÷
ø

[2n]i
(-1)i.



3. (a) Solve the following recurrence relation

an+1 = ( n+1
n
)an + n + 1        (n ³ 1)
given that a1 = 5.


(b) Solve the following recurrence relation

an+2-3an+1 + 2an = Kn        (n ³ 0)
given that a0 = a1 = 0, in the two cases: (i) K = 3, (ii) K = 2.


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On 23 Dec 1999, 14:23.