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Difference between revisions of "Ball-and-urn"

(The article already contains enough LaTeX and is wikified. Also, how is the article, as it currently is, related to geometry?)
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It is used to solve problems of the form: how many ways can one distribute <math>k</math> indistinguishable objects into <math>n</math> bins? We can imagine this as finding the number of ways to drop <math>k</math> balls into <math>n</math> urns, or equivalently to drop <math>k</math> balls amongst <math>n-1</math> dividers. The number of ways to do such is <math>{n+k-1 \choose k}</math>.
 
It is used to solve problems of the form: how many ways can one distribute <math>k</math> indistinguishable objects into <math>n</math> bins? We can imagine this as finding the number of ways to drop <math>k</math> balls into <math>n</math> urns, or equivalently to drop <math>k</math> balls amongst <math>n-1</math> dividers. The number of ways to do such is <math>{n+k-1 \choose k}</math>.
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== Reasoning (One of Several) ==
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If you could only put one ball in each urn, then there would be <math>{n \choose k}</math> possibilities; the problem is that you can repeat urns, so this does not work. You can, however, reframe the problem as so: imagine that you have the <math>n</math> urns (numbered 1 through <math>n</math>) and then you also have <math>k-1</math> urns labeled "repeat 1st", "repeat 2nd", ..., "repeat <math>k-1</math>st". After the balls are in urns you can imagine that any balls in the "repeat" urns are moved on top of the correct balls in the first <math>n</math> urns. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the non-repeating arrangements in these new urns and the repeats-allowed arrangements in the original urns.
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For a simple example, consider 4 balls and 5 urns. The one to one correspondence between several of the  possibilities and the "repeated urns" version is shown. Since there are 4 balls, these examples will have three possible "repeat" urns. For simplicity, I am listing the numbers of the urns with balls in them, so "1,1,2,4" means 2 balls in urn 1, 1 in urn 2, and 1 in urn 4. The same is true for the "repeat" urns options but I use the notation <math>r_1</math> etc.
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*1,2,3,4 <-> 1,2,3,4 (no repeats)
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*1,1,2,4 <-> 1,2,4, <math>r_1</math>
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*1,2,2,2 <-> 1,2, <math>r_2</math>, <math>r_3</math>
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*4,4,5,5 <-> 4,5, <math>r_1</math>, <math>r_3</math>
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Since the reframed version of the problem has n+k-1 urns, and k balls that can each only go in one urn, the number of possible scenarios is simply <math>{n+k-1
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\choose k}</math>
  
 
== Problems ==
 
== Problems ==
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*[[2007 AIME I Problems/Problem 10]]
 
*[[2007 AIME I Problems/Problem 10]]
 
*[[1986 AIME Problems/Problem 13]]
 
*[[1986 AIME Problems/Problem 13]]
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{{stub}}
 
  
 
[[Category:Combinatorics]]
 
[[Category:Combinatorics]]

Revision as of 22:24, 15 February 2014

The ball-and-urn technique, also known as stars-and-bars, is a commonly used technique in combinatorics.

It is used to solve problems of the form: how many ways can one distribute $k$ indistinguishable objects into $n$ bins? We can imagine this as finding the number of ways to drop $k$ balls into $n$ urns, or equivalently to drop $k$ balls amongst $n-1$ dividers. The number of ways to do such is ${n+k-1 \choose k}$.


Reasoning (One of Several)

If you could only put one ball in each urn, then there would be ${n \choose k}$ possibilities; the problem is that you can repeat urns, so this does not work. You can, however, reframe the problem as so: imagine that you have the $n$ urns (numbered 1 through $n$) and then you also have $k-1$ urns labeled "repeat 1st", "repeat 2nd", ..., "repeat $k-1$st". After the balls are in urns you can imagine that any balls in the "repeat" urns are moved on top of the correct balls in the first $n$ urns. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the non-repeating arrangements in these new urns and the repeats-allowed arrangements in the original urns.

For a simple example, consider 4 balls and 5 urns. The one to one correspondence between several of the possibilities and the "repeated urns" version is shown. Since there are 4 balls, these examples will have three possible "repeat" urns. For simplicity, I am listing the numbers of the urns with balls in them, so "1,1,2,4" means 2 balls in urn 1, 1 in urn 2, and 1 in urn 4. The same is true for the "repeat" urns options but I use the notation $r_1$ etc.

  • 1,2,3,4 <-> 1,2,3,4 (no repeats)
  • 1,1,2,4 <-> 1,2,4, $r_1$
  • 1,2,2,2 <-> 1,2, $r_2$, $r_3$
  • 4,4,5,5 <-> 4,5, $r_1$, $r_3$

Since the reframed version of the problem has n+k-1 urns, and k balls that can each only go in one urn, the number of possible scenarios is simply ${n+k-1 \choose k}$

Problems

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