YORK UNIVERSITY

2006 WINTER TERM EXAMINATION

Course Number: MATH/CSE 1019

Title: Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science

Duration: 3 hours

No aids allowed.

• There should be 10 pages in the exam, including this page.

• Write all answers on the examination paper. If your answer does not fit in the space
provided, you can continue your answer on page 10, or on the back of a page, indicating
clearly that you have done so.
• Write legibly.

Name

(Please underline your family name.)

Student Number

1. /5
2. /5
3. /3
4. /3
5. /4
6. /5
7. /3
8. /3
9. /5
10. /8
11. /6
Total: /50

1 cont’d. . .
1. [5 marks] Prove n2 ≤ 2n for all natural numbers n ≥ 4.

2 cont’d. . .
2. [5 marks] Let f : A → B be a function. For any set C ⊆ B, define f −1 (C) to be the set
{a ∈ A : f (a) ∈ C}. Prove that for every f : A → B and subsets S and T of B we have
f −1 (S) ∩ f −1 (T ) = f −1 (S ∩ T ).

3. [3 marks] Give an example of a relation on the set {a, b, c} that is reflexive and symmetric,
but not transitive.

3 cont’d. . .
 2n
3i is Ω(n2 ). (Recall that f is Ω(g) if and only if g is O(f ).)
P
4. [3 marks] Show that
i=n

5. [4 marks] Show that C(n, 2) is not O(n). (Recall that C(n, r) denotes the number of r-
combinations of a set of n elements.)

4 cont’d. . .
6. [5 marks]

[3] (a) Show that if 51 distinct numbers are chosen among {1, 2, 3, . . . , 100} then there must
be two numbers among them whose sum is 101.

[2] (b) Show that one can chose 50 distinct numbers among {1, 2, 3, . . . , 100} so that there are
no two numbers among them whose sum is 101.

5 cont’d. . .
7. [3 marks] Consider an n × n checkerboard. How many ways are there to move a checker from
the upper-left corner to the lower-right corner if each move of the checker can be one square
to the right or one square down? (The checker is never allowed to move up or to the left.)
Briefly explain why your answer is correct.

8. [3 marks] A string of bits can be transmitted over a communication channel using two kinds
of signals. The signal for a 0 bit takes 2 microseconds to transmit. The signal for a 1 bit
takes 3 microseconds to transmit. When transmitting a sequence of bits, the signals are sent
one after the other, without any pause in between.
Let an be the number of different bit strings that take exactly n microseconds to transmit.
Write down a recurrence for an (including initial conditions). Do not solve the recurrence.

6 cont’d. . .
9. [5 marks] Consider the recurrence relation an = 3an−1 + 10an−2 . Find the solution that
satisfies a1 = 3 and a2 = 29. Show your work.

7 cont’d. . .
10. [8 marks] Let P be P (N), the set of all subsets of N. Define a relation R on P by saying
(A, B) ∈ R if and only if A ∩ {1, 2, 3} = B ∩ {1, 2, 3}.

[5] (a) Prove that R is an equivalence relation.

[2] (b) Describe the equivalence class of A = {1, 3, 5, 7}.

[1] (c) How many R-equivalence classes are there? Briefly justify your answer.

8 cont’d. . .
11. [6 marks] Recall that Qn , the n-cube, is the graph whose vertex set is the set of all bit strings
of length n such that two bit strings are adjacent if and only if they differ in exactly one
digit.

(a) Is Q3 bipartite? Justify your answer.

(b) Which Qn are bipartite? Justify your answer.

9 cont’d. . .
11. [6 marks]

[3] (a) How many different strings can be formed by rearranging all the letters of the word
M ISSISSAU GA? Briefly justify your answer.

[3] (b) How many of the rearrangements in part (a) contain 4 S’s in a row? Briefly justify
your answer.

9 cont’d. . .
(Almost) blank page for extra work space.

10