Problem Set 1

Most of the problems are assigned from the required textbook Bona, Miklos. A Walk Through Combinatorics: An Introduction to Enumeration and Graph Theory. World Scientific Publishing Company, 2011. ISBN: 9789814335232. [Preview with Google Books]

A problem marked by * is difficult; it is not necessary to solve such a problem to do well in the course.

Problem Set 1

  • Due in Session 3
  • Practice Problems
    • Session 1: Chapter 1: Exercises 1, 6a, 8*, 12 Some of these problems can be done in other ways, but the idea is to give a proof using the pigeonhole principle.
    • Session 2: Chapter 2: Exercises 2, 5, 12, 15*, Chapter 3: Exercise 2
  • Problems Assigned in the Textbook
    • Chapter 1: Exercises 22, 26, 31. In 26, a "regular" triangle is an equilateral triangle. Solve 31(a) for every value of n≥2, not just some particular value. 31(b) is rather tricky.
    • Chapter 2: Exercises 18, 29, 33
    • Chapter 3: Exercises 27, 34
  • Additional Problems
    • None
  • Bonus Problems
    • None