The number of sequences of ten terms, whose terms are either or or , that contain exactly five ’s and exactly three ’s, is equal to:
- A
- B
- C
- D
The number of sequences of ten terms, whose terms are either or or , that contain exactly five ’s and exactly three ’s, is equal to:
Correct answer:C
Standard Method
Given: A sequence has terms, each term is either , , or . It contains exactly five 's and exactly three 's.
Find: The number of distinct such sequences and hence the correct option.
This is a problem of permutations with repetitions.
The remaining terms must be zeros, so the number of 's is
Now arrange ones, twos, and zeros in positions.
Using combinations:
Choose positions for the five 's.
From the remaining positions, choose positions for the three 's:
The remaining positions are automatically occupied by 's.
Therefore, total number of sequences is
Equivalently,
Therefore, the total number of such sequences is . The correct option is C.
Direct Multinomial Formula
Given: There are positions with repeated entries: five 's, three 's, and two 's.
Find: The number of distinct sequences.
Since identical symbols repeat, use the multinomial form directly:
Evaluating,
This shortcut works because dividing by , , and removes overcounting caused by interchanging identical 's, 's, and 's.
Therefore, the correct option is C.
Forgetting to count the number of 's. Since there are terms in total, after five 's and three 's, the remaining terms are two 's. Always complete the composition first.
Using directly without dividing by repetitions. That counts identical 's, 's, and 's as distinct. Use instead.
Choosing positions independently from each time, such as . After placing the five 's, only positions remain for the three 's, so the correct product is .
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