Final Exam on

MACM-101

Discrete Mathematics

Fall 2014

1. Prove the formula for the cardinality of the power set.

The power set of a set A is the set of all subsets of A.
Theorem. If A is a finite set then |P (A)| = 2|A| .
Proof. We had three different proofs of this statement: with the Gray code, inductive one,
and the one using the Binomial Theorem. Here Ill give the proof by induction.
Let Q(n) denote the statement an n-element set has 2n subsets.
Basis step: Q(0), the empty set has only one subset, empty.
Inductive step. We make the inductive hypothesis: a k-element set A has 2k subsets.
We have to prove Q(k + 1), that is if a set A contains k + 1 elements, then |P (A)| = 2k+1 . Fix
an element a A, and set B = A {a}. The set B contains k elements, hence |P (B)| = 2k .
Every subset X of B corresponds to two subsets of A, namely, X and X {a}. Therefore
|P (A)| = 2 |P (B)| = 2 2k = 2k+1 .
2. Use induction to prove that (1 + x)n 1 + nx for all x 1 and n 1.
Induction on n.
Base case: n = 1 then (1 + x)1 = 1 + x 1 + 1 x.
Induction step: For induction hypothesis, suppose that (1 + x)k 1 + kx. The we have to
prove that (1 + x)k+1 1 + (k + 1)x. We have
(1 + x)k+1 = (1 + x)k (1 + x) (1 + kx)(1 + x) = 1 + kx + x + kx2 1 + (k + 1)x.
3. Suppose we have four cards, a letter or a number is written on one side of each
card, and the other side is either white or black. Suppose what we see is
5
A
Which cards would you have to turn over to verify the following statement: If
there is a letter on one side of a card, then the other side is black? Explain.
The statement is false only if there is a card that contains a letter on one side, but is white
on the other side. Therefore, the card which has a number on one side and the black card
cannot falsify the statement. The two other cards (cards 2 and 3) should be turned over.
4. Find the greatest common divisor and the least common multiple of 273 and 308.
Run Euclidean algorithm:
308 = 273 1 + 35
273 = 35 7 + 28
35 = 28 1 + 7
28 = 7 4
Thus gcd(308, 273) = 7.

To find the least common multiple we use the property a b = gcd(a, b) lcm(a, b). Then
lcm(308, 273) =

308 273
308 273
=
= 12012.
gcd(308, 273)
7

Alternatively, we first find the prime factorization of both numbers: 308 = 7 11 22 and
273 = 3713; and then compose the common multiple from these factors avoiding repetitions
of primes: lcm(308, 273) = 22 3 7 11 13.
5. A store sells 8 kinds of baloons. If the store has only 12 red baloons, but at least
30 of each other kind, how many combinations of 30 baloons can be chosen?
Observe that if there were at least 30 red baloons, every selection of baloons would be a
combination of 30 objects from 8 types with repetitions. However, since there are only 12 of
them, we need to consider them separately.
To make a selection we first take i red baloons, i = 0 . . . 12. Then every choice of the
remaining baloons is a combination of 30 i objects from 7 types with repetitions. There
are C(30 i + 7 1, 7 1) = C(36 i, 6) choices. Therefore the total number of choices is
C(36, 6) + C(35, 6) + . . . + C(24, 6).
6. Prove that any two positive integers have a greatest common divisor.
For integers a and b, a positive integer c is said to be a common divisor of a and b if c|a and
c|b.
Let a, b be integers such that a = 0 or b = 0. Then a positive integer c is called the greatest
common divisor of a, b if (a) c|a and c|b (that is c is a common divisor of a, b); (b) for any
common divisor d of a and b, we have d|c.
Theorem
For any positive integers a and b, there is a unique positive integer c such that c is the greatest
common divisor of a and b.
Proof. Given a, b, let S = {as + bt|s, t Z, as + bt > 0}. Since S = , it has a least element
c. We show that c = gcd(a, b). We have c = ax + by for some integers x and y. If d|a and d|b,
then d|ax + by = c, that is the second condition from the definition of the greatest common
divisor holds.
If c |a, we can use the division algorithm to find a = qc + r, where q, r are integers and
0 < r < c. Then r = a qc = a q(ax + by) = a(1 qx) + b(qy) S, a contradiction.
Therefore c|a, and by a similar argument c|b.
7. Give a definition of minimal, maximal, least, and greatest elements. Illustrate it
with an example.
Let R be a partial order on a set A. Then an element a A is called
minimal if whenever (b, a) R, b = a,
maximal if whenever (a, b) R, b = a,
least if (a, b) R for all b A,
greatest if (b, a) R for all b A.
For an example see slide 18 in Lecture 15.

8. State the Chinese Remainder Theorem.

Theorem.
Let m1 , m2 , . . . , mk be pairwise relatively prime positive integers and a1 , a2 , . . . ak arbitrary
integers. Then the system
x a1

(mod m1 )

x a2
..
.

(mod m2 )

x ak

(mod mk )

has a unique solution modulo m1 m2 . . . mk . (That is, there is a solution x with 0 x < m,
and all other solutions are congruent modulo m to this solution.)
9. Use the Binomial Theorem from the equation
50 ( )

50
15i = x100 .
i
1=0

By the Binomial Theorem we have

50 ( )

50
15i = (1 + 15)50 = 1650 .
i
1=0

Therefore, x = 4 or x = 4.
10. I put four balls into three bins at random. Find the probability that the second
bin remains empty. The probability that one of the bins remains empty.
Let the balls are numbered from 1 to 4, and the bins are labeled A, B, C. Then the balls-tobins experiment is just selecting a string of length 4 of letters A, B, C representing the choice
of a bin for each ball. Let E2 denote the event that the second bin remains empty, and let E
denote the event that at least one of the bins remain empty.
Since every outcome is equally likely, it suffices to find the numbers of all outcomes, and the
outcomes from events E, E2. Each of the four positions can be occupied by any of A, B, C,
therefore, by the rule of product there are N = 34 outcomes. If bin B remains empty, the
string representing the outcome does not contain letter B, there are 24 strings like this, that
is, |E2| = 24 , and
24
P r[E2] = 4 .
3
The number of outcomes in E we find as follows. As one of the bins remain empty, one of the
letters is missing in an outcome from E. For each letter the number of outcomes equals 24 ,
as is shown above. However, in the number 3 24 strings that use only one letter are counted
twice, therefore, |E| = 3 24 3, and
P r[E] =

3 24 3
.
34

We also accepted solutions, in which the second event, denote it E , is understood as there
is exactly one empty bin. In this case the strings using only one letter must be excluded
altogether. Therefore the probability we are looking for is
P r[E] =

3 24 6
.
34

Note. Many people gave a solution, in which they assumed that a outcome is a distribution
of numbers of balls in the bins. This solution is not quite correct, because such outcomes are
not equally likely. We nevertheless did not penalize such solutions, as we did not have enough
exercises where such a phenomenon shows up.
11. Explain the rule of universal generalization.
If an open statement P (x) is proved to be true when x is assigned by any arbitrary chosen
(generic) value from the universe, then the statement x P (x) is also true.
A generic value, is a value that is assumed to be from the universe of the statement, and that
does not have any specific property that any other value in the universe may not have.
12. Give a definition of a transitive relation. Which of the following relations given
by their graphs are transitive

(1)

a
b

(2)

(3)

(4)

Relation R on a set A is called transitive if for any a, b, c A such that (a, b), (b, c) R the
pair (a, c) R.
It is straightforward (just check all combinations of pairs) that relations (1) and (4) are
transitive. Relation (2) is not, because (b, a), (a, b) belong to the relation, while (b, b) is not.
Relation (3) is also not transitive, since (a, c), (c, b) are in the relation, but (a, b) is not; instead
it contains pair (b, a).
13. Give an example of functions f, g such that f g is injective, while g f is not.
Let A = {a, b} and B = {a, b, c}. define functions f : B A and g : A B as follows:
f (a) = a, f (b) = f (c) = b, and g(a) = a, g(b) = b. Then f g : A A, g f : B B, and
we have
(f g)(a) = a, (f g)(b) = b, and f g is injective;
(g f )(a) = a, (g f )(b) = b, (g f )(c) = b, and g f is not surjective.