Probability for the Social Sciences

Week 3 Homework

Read Week 3 lecture notes thoroughly and solve the problems shown below. (You may also have to reread
Week 2 lecture notes for this homework.) Submit a pdf copy of your homework via the e-class website by 11:30
PM on Monday, May 8. This deadline is strict, but I will grant you an extension if it is deemed necessary.
(You must contact me in advance.) Make sure that your handwriting is legible, and be sure to talk to me
if you have any questions. I will be in SK115 to help you with homework from 3:30 PM to 4:40 PM (right
before class) on Monday, May 8. Please be there by 3:30 PM if you want to discuss homework problems with me.

Note: Within a few weeks, we will compute probabilities associated with the following problems. (If you cannot
solve these problems, you will not be able to compute the probabilities.)
1. (Table seating) A banquet planner is responsible for seating 6 honored guests at the head table. (They
are all placed on one side of the table.)
(a) In how many ways can 6 people be seated at the head table?
(b) Suppose that the planner knows that 8 people feel that they should be at the head table, but only 6
spaces are available. In how many ways can the planner seat 6 of the 8 people at the head table?
2. (Diversity) Suppose that an employer plans to hire 4 people from a group of 9 equally qualified people of
whom 3 are minority candidates.
(a) In how many ways can the employer hire 4 people from the group?
(b) In how many ways can the employer hire 4 people from the group so that no minority candidates are
hired?
3. (Sales) A car dealer has 12 dierent cars, but he has room to display only 5. Suppose that 8 of the cars
are the same color, with the remaining 4 having distinct colors.
(a) In how many ways can 5 cars be chosen from the 12 cars? (Assume that the order of selection is
irrelevant.)
(b) In how many ways can 5 cars be chosen from the 12 cars so that all 5 cars will be the same color?
(Assume that the order of selection is irrelevant.)
4. (Quality control) A manufacturing process for computer chips is such that 1 out of 20 chips are defective.
Suppose that 3 chips are chosen from a box containing 20 newly manufactured chips.
(a) In how many ways can you choose 3 chips from the box? (Here it is assumed that the order of
selection is irrelevant.)
(b) In how many ways can you choose 3 chips from the box so that none of the chips will be defective?
(Again, it is assumed that the order of selection is irrelevant.)
5. (Indistinguishable objects) A fruit basket contains 4 bananas and 1 apple. Suppose that the 4 bananas are
indistinguishable. In how many ` ways can you select 2 of them? Here assume that the order of selection
is irrelevant. (Hint: It is not 52 ; do you understand why?)
Optional problems: The following are for those who want to solve slightly more challenging problems. Enjoy,
and dont be discouraged by the problems.
1. During a national television advertising campaign, Little Caesars Pizza stated that for $9.95, you could
get 2 medium-sized pizzas, each with any of 0 to 5 toppings chosen from 11 that are available. The
commercial asked the question, How many dierent pairs of pizzas can you get? Answer the question.
2. A police department in a small city consists of 10 officers. If the department policy is to have 5 of the
officers patrolling the street, 2 of the officers working full time at the station, and 3 of the officers on
reserve at the station, how many dierent divisions of the 10 officers into the 3 groups are possible?
3. We have
n
n n k nk
px ` yq x y
k0
k

n n n n1 n 2 n2 n n
y ` xy ` x y ` ` x
0 1 2 n
` n
which is called the binomial theorem. Explain why the coefficient of the term xk y nk is k .