Tricky subsets question

Probability Level pending

Given an arbitrary set S containing 100 elements, how many subsets T of S exist subject to the following conditions:

  • The number of integers must be a multiple of 5
  • The number of irrational numbers must be a multiple of 6
  • There cannot be more than 5 complex numbers.


The answer is 21.

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1 solution

Anthony Muleta
Jan 2, 2015

Create a generating function for each of the conditions:

If Z ( x ) Z(x) = no. integers, then Z ( x ) = 1 + x 5 + x 10 + . . . = 1 1 x 5 Z(x)=1+x^5+x^{10}+... = \frac {1}{1-x^5}

If Q ( x ) Q(x) =no. irrationals, then Q ( x ) = 1 + x 6 + x 12 + . . . = 1 1 x 6 Q(x)=1+x^6+x^{12}+... =\frac {1}{1-x^6}

If C ( x ) C(x) =no. complex numbers, then C ( x ) = 1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + x 4 + x 5 = 1 x 6 1 x C(x)=1+x+x^2+x^3+x^4+x^5 =\frac {1-x^6}{1-x} using the geometric sum formula.

The generating function T ( x ) T(x) describing the total number of elements is just the product of these functions, which is ( 1 1 x 5 ) ( 1 1 x 6 ) ( 1 x 6 1 x ) = 1 ( 1 x 5 ) ( 1 x ) . (\frac {1}{1-x^5}) \cdot (\frac {1}{1-x^6}) \cdot (\frac {1-x^6}{1-x}) = \frac {1}{(1-x^5)(1-x)}.

Expanding T ( x ) T(x) gives T ( x ) = ( 1 + x 5 + x 10 + x 15 + . . . ) ( 1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + x 4 + . . . ) T(x)=(1+x^5+x^{10}+x^{15}+...)(1+x+x^2+x^3+x^4+...) The number of subsets is simply the coefficient of x 100 x^{100} in the expansion of T ( x ) . T(x). Therefore, the coefficient of x 100 x^{100} is:

i + j = 100 ( a i b j ) , \displaystyle \sum_{i+j=100} (a_i b_j), where a i a_i is the coefficient of x i x^i of 1 + x 5 + x 10 + . . . 1+x^5+x^{10}+... and b j b_j is the coefficient of x j x^j of 1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + . . . 1+x+x^2+x^3+... , which = 1 =1 for all j j .

For 1 + x 5 + x 10 + . . . 1+x^5+x^{10}+... , the coefficient of x i = 1 x^i=1 where i = 5 k i=5k for some integer k k , and therefore there are 21 terms with coefficient 1. The other 80 terms all have a coefficient of 0.

Therefore, the coefficient of x 100 = 21 ( 1 1 ) + 80 ( 0 1 ) = 21 . x^{100}=21(1 \cdot 1) + 80(0 \cdot 1) = \boxed {21}.

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