Recitation Guide - Week 2

CIS 160
Recitation Guide - Week 2

Topics Covered: Proofs, Set Proofs, Permutations, Combinations, Inclusion-Exclusion
Problem 1: Prove that (A ∪ B) \ C = (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).

Solution:
First, we show that (A ∪ B) \ C ⊆ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).
Let an arbitrary x ∈ (A ∪ B) \ C.
x ∈ (A ∪ B) ∧ x 6∈ C =⇒ (x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B) ∧ x 6∈ C.
Since x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B, at least one of the following must be true:
Case 1: x ∈ A ∧ x 6∈ C. Thus, x ∈ (A \ C) and so x ∈ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).
Case 2: x ∈ B ∧ x 6∈ C. Thus, x ∈ (B \ C) and so x ∈ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).
In any case, x ∈ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C), so (A ∪ B) \ C ⊆ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).
Now we show that (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C) ⊆ (A ∪ B) \ C.
Let an arbitrary x ∈ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).
x ∈ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C) =⇒ (x ∈ A ∧ x 6∈ C) ∨ (x ∈ B ∧ x 6∈ C). At least one of the following is
true:
Case 1: x ∈ A ∧ x 6∈ C. Since x ∈ A, x ∈ (A ∪ B). Thus, x ∈ (A ∪ B) \ C.
Case 2: x ∈ B ∧ x 6∈ C. Since x ∈ B, x ∈ (A ∪ B). Thus, x ∈ (A ∪ B) \ C.
In any case, x ∈ (A ∪ B) \ C, so (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C) ⊆ (A ∪ B) \ C.
Since (A ∪ B) \ C ⊆ (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C) and (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C) ⊆ (A ∪ B) \ C, the two sets are
equal.
1
Problem 2: There are 100 people. You want to divide them into 10 teams of 10 people each.
How many possible ways are there to make the teams?
Solution:
Method 1: Using Permutations
We can put the people into a line, and say that the first 10 people are one team, the second 10
people another, and so on. We can order them in 100! ways. However, within each team, the
ordering of the people does not matter. So for each team we have overcounted by a factor of 10!.
In addition, the ordering of the teams does not matter, so we have overcounted by another factor
of 10! (we implicitly order the teams when we say “the first 10” and so forth). Thus the answer
follows:
100!
(10!)11
Method 2: Using Combinations

We can choose 10 members of one group, then another, and so on, and multiply together the
choices at each step. However, we again have overcounted by a factor of 10!, since we are implicitly
choosing a “first team” and a “second team” and so on, whereas the ordering of teams does not
matter. Hence the answer is also
100 90 10

10 × 10 × ... × 10
10!
But these answers don’t look the same! Clearly, they’re counting the same quantity, so they should
be the same - can you figure out what’s going wrong here?
2
Problem 3:
Yonah’s 9 cousins are arguing. Yonah has asked them to stand in a line so they can get presents
(from youngest to oldest). However, the cousins refused to be defined by age and are arguing about
their position in the line. Yonah has just realized that if fewer than 7 cousins are arranged in
consecutively increasing age, his cousins will stop arguing (if the line is in consecutively decreasing
age, no one will argue, since older cousins can bully the younger ones into silence). How many ways
can Yonah arrange his cousins in a line so they will not argue?
In other words, given numbers 1 to 9, how many permutations of the numbers do not have at least
7 consecutively increasing numbers?
Solution:
We solve this problem with complementary counting. First, the total number of permutations
without restrictions are 9!. Now we need to subtract from that number the permutations which
give at least 7 consecutively increasing numbers. Note that any sequence of consecutive numbers
can only begin from the first, second or third position. Therefore, there are three sets we need to
consider:
C1 = The set of sequences with at least 7 consecutive numbers beginning from the first position in
line.
C2 = The set of sequences with at least 7 consecutive numbers beginning from the second position
in line.
C3 = The set of sequences with at least 7 consecutive numbers beginning from the third position
in line.
The number of sequences that can not be included is then represented by |C1 ∪ C2 ∪ C3 |. By the
principle of inclusion-exclusion (PIE), we can compute this as
|C1 ∪ C2 ∪ C3 | = |C1 | + |C2 | + |C3 | − |C1 ∩ C2 | − |C1 ∩ C3 | − |C2 ∩ C3 | + |C1 ∩ C2 ∩ C3 |

The cardinality |C1 | can be computed using the multiplication rule:
Step 1: Select the number at the first position: The only options for the first number
are 1, 2, and 3, so this can be done in 3 ways.
Step 2: Select the next six numbers: Since the numbers are consecutively increasing,
this can be done in 1 way.
Step 3: Select the eighth number: There are two numbers available at this point, so it
can be done in 2 ways.
Step 4: Select the last number: With only one number remaining, this can be done in
1 way.
Therefore, |C1 | = 3 × 1 × 2 × 1 = 6.
Similarly, the cardinality of C2 and C3 are also 6.
Now, we must calculate the cardinalities of the intersections of sets:
|C1 ∩ C2 | can also be calculated using the multiplication rule:
3
Step 1: Pick the first number. This can be done in two ways, as the first number can
only be 1 or 2.
Step 2: Pick the numbers 2-8. Because the sequence is consecutively increasing from
1-7 and from 2-8, there is only one way to do this.
Step 3: Pick the last number. There is only one number remaining, so this can be done
in one way.
Thus, |C1 ∩ C2 | = 2. Similarly, we have |C2 ∩ C3 | = 2.
For |C1 ∩ C3 |, note that this can only be the sequence 1, 2, 3, . . . , 9.
The same is true for |C1 ∩ C2 ∩ C3 |
Putting this all together, we get the following expression:
|C1 ∪ C2 ∪ C3 | = |C1 | + |C2 | + |C3 | − |C1 ∩ C2 | − |C1 ∩ C3 | − |C2 ∩ C3 | + |C1 ∩ C2 ∩ C3 |

=6+6+6−2−2−1+1
= 14
Finally we can deduct this number from the total number of permutations without restrictions,
making the answer
9! − 14

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CIS 160

Recitation Guide - Week 2

Problem 1: Prove that (A ∪ B) \ C = (A \ C) ∪ (B \ C).

Method 2: Using Combinations

|C1 ∪ C2 ∪ C3 | = |C1 | + |C2 | + |C3 | − |C1 ∩ C2 | − |C1 ∩ C3 | − |C2 ∩ C3 | + |C1 ∩ C2 ∩ C3 |

|C1 ∪ C2 ∪ C3 | = |C1 | + |C2 | + |C3 | − |C1 ∩ C2 | − |C1 ∩ C3 | − |C2 ∩ C3 | + |C1 ∩ C2 ∩ C3 |

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