Discrete Mathematics

Dinesh Singh

COUNTING
1. The number of substrings (of all length inclusive) that can be formed from a
character string of length n is
(GATE CS - 1994)
A). n

2
B). n

C).

n(n 1)
2

D).

n(n 1)
2

2. Determine the number of divisors of 600.

(GATE CS - 1995)

3. How many substrings of different lengths (non-zero) cab be form a character

string of length n is
(GATE CS -1998 )
A). n

2
B). n

C). 2n

D).

n(n 1)
2

4. The number of binary strings of n zeros and k ones such that no two ones are
adjacent is
(GATE CS - 1999)
A). n 1Ck

B). nCk

C). nCk 1

D). None of these

5. Two girls have picked 10 roses, 15sunflowers and 14 daffodils. What is the
number of way they can divide the flowers among themselves? (GATE CS - 1999)
A). 1638

B). 2100

C).2640

D). none of the above

6. The minimum number of cards to be dealt from an arbitrarily shuffled deck of

52cards to guarantee that three cards are from some same suit is (GATE CS 2000)
A). 3

B). 8

C). 9

D). 12

7. How many 4-digit even numbers have all 4 digits distinct?

A). 2240

B). 2296

C). 2620

(GATE CS - 2001)

D). 4536

8. (a) In how many ways can a given positive integer n 2 be expressed as the sum
of 2 positive integers (which are not necessarily distinct). For example, for n = 3, the
number of ways is 2, i.e., 1+2, 2+1. Give only the answer without any explanation.
(b) In how many ways can a given positive integer n 3 be expressed as the sum of 3
positive integers (which are not necessarily distinct). For example, for n = 4, the
number of ways is 3, i.e., 1+2+1, 2+1+1. Give only the answer without any
explanation.
(c) In how many ways can a given positive integer n k be expressed as the sum of
k positive integers (which are not necessarily distinct)? Give only the answer
without any explanation.
(GATE CS - 2002)

Discrete Mathematics

Dinesh Singh

9. Let A be a sequence of 8 distinct integers sorted in ascending order. How many

distinct pairs of sequences, B and C are there such that (i) each is sorted in ascending
order, (ii) B has 5 and C has 3 elements, and (iii) the result of merging B and C gives
A?
(GATE CS - 2003)
A). 2

B). 30

C). 56

D). 256

10. If n couples are invited to a party with the condition that every husband should
be accompanied by his wife. However, a wife need not be accompanied by her
husband. The number of different gatherings possible at the party is

2n
A). 2n
n

B). 3n

C).

(2n)!
2n

2n
D).
n

(GATE CS - 2003)

11. If m identical balls are to be placed in n distinct bags and you are given that
m kn , where k is a natural number ( 1) . In how many ways can the balls be placed
in the bags if each bag must contain at least k balls?

mk
A).

n 1

m kn n 1
m 1
B).
C).

n 1

nk

(GATE CS - 2003)

m kn n k 2
D).
.
nk

12. In how many ways can we distribute 5 distinct balls ; B1 , B2 ,........B5 in 5 distinct
cells ; C1 , C2 ,........C5 , such that Ball Bi B is not in cell Ci , i 1, 2,.....,5 and each cell
contains exactly one ball?
A). 44

(GATE IT - 2004)

B). 96

C). 120

D). 3125

13. What is the minimum number of ordered pair of non-negative numbers should
be chosen to ensure that there are two pair (a, b) and (c, d ) in the chosen set such that
a c mod 3 and b d mod 5

A). 4

B). 6

(GATE CS - 2005)
C).16

D). 24

Discrete Mathematics

Dinesh Singh

Statement for Linked Answer Questions 14 & 15:

(GATE CS - 2007)

Suppose that a robot is placed on the Cartesian plane. At each step it is allowed to
move either one unit up or one unit right, i.e., if it is at (i, j ) then it can move to
either (i 1, j ) or (i, j 1) .
14. How many distinct paths are there for the robot to reach the point (10,10) starting
from the initial position (0, 0) ?

20
A).
10

B). 220

C). 210

D). None of the above

15. Suppose that the robot is not allowed to traverse the line segment from (4, 4) to

(5, 4) . With this constraint, how many distinct paths are there for the robot to reach
(10,10) starting from (0, 0) ?
A). 29

B). 219

8 11
C).
4 5

20 8 11
D).
10 4 5

16. In how many ways b blue balls and r red balls can be distributed in n distinct
boxes?
(GATE IT - 2008)
A).

(n b 1)!(n r 1)!
(n (b r ) 1)!
(n (b r ) 1)!
n!
B).
C).
D).
(n 1)!b !(n 1)!r !
(n 1)!(n 1)!(b r )!
n !(b r 1)!
b !r !

17. A pennant is a sequence of numbers, each number being 1 or 2. An n-pennant is a

sequence of numbers with sum equal to n. For example, (1,1, 2) is a 4-pennant. The
set of all possible 1-pennants is {(1)} , the set of all possible 2-pennants is {(2),(1,1)}
and the set of all 3-pennants is {(2,1),(1,1,1)(1, 2)} . Note that the pennant (1, 2) is not
the same as the pennant (2,1) . The number of 10- pennants is __. (GATE IT - 2014)
18. The number of distinct positive integral factors of 2014 is___. (GATE IT - 2014)