25 COMBINATORICS AND NUMBER THEORY PROBLEMS

1. Find the number of positive factors of 2023.

Answer: 6
Solution:
2023 = 7 × 172
Now,
(1 + 1)(2 + 1) = 2(3) = 6.
We have 6 positive factors of 2023.

2. Let 𝐴 = 830830 … 830830 be a 300-digit number. Find the remainder when 𝐴 is divided by 9.
Answer: 2
Solution:
Using divisibility rule for 9,
300
(8 + 3 + 0) ≡ 𝑥 𝑚𝑜𝑑 9
3
100(11) ≡ 𝑥 𝑚𝑜𝑑 9
1110 ≡ 𝑥 𝑚𝑜𝑑 9
We then divide 1110 by 9 to get the remainder.
We have
1110 ≡ 2 𝑚𝑜𝑑 9.

3. Given (𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑) is a set of positive integers, find the number of solution sets of 𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 + 𝑑 =
34.
Answer: 5456
Solution:
Applying stars and bars:
34 − 1 33 33! 33 × 32 × 31
( )=( )= = = 5456
4−1 3 3! 30! 3×2

1 2023
4. Find the coefficient of 𝑥 2021 in the expansion of (𝑥 2 + 𝑥) .(Write your answer in the form 𝑛𝐶𝑟)
Answer: 2023C675
Solution:
Using Binomial Theorem,
2023
( ) (𝑥 2 )2023−𝑟 (𝑥 −1 )𝑟 .
𝑟
We have
(𝑥 2 )2023−𝑟 (𝑥 −1 )𝑟 = 𝑥 2021
2(2023 − 𝑟) − 𝑟 = 2021
4046 − 2𝑟 − 𝑟 = 2021 ⇒ 𝑟 = 675.
Since we only need the coefficient, we have (2023
675
).
5. Find the last two digits of 72023 .
Answer: 43
Solution:
71 ≡ 7 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100
72 ≡ 49 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100
73 ≡ 343 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100 ≡ 43 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100
74 ≡ 2401 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100 ≡ 1 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100
We can see a pattern that the last 2 digits of the product of 7 raised to increasing power are: 07,
49, 43, 01 then back to 07.
We have
72023 ≡ 74(505)+3 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100 ≡ (74 )505 (73 ) 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100 ≡ 1505 (43) 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100 ≡ 43 𝑚𝑜𝑑 100.
Hence, we have 43.

6. Suppose a die is rolled 4 times. What is the probability of getting exactly two "5"s?
25
Answer: 216
Solution:
1
The probability of getting a 5 is .
6
5
The probability of not getting a 5 is .
6
The probability of getting exactly 2 5s is:
4 1 2 5 2 25
( )( ) ( ) =
2 6 6 216

7. Select a group of 4 students to be the representatives from 7 boys and 6 girls. Given at least one of
the representatives is a girl, how many possible combinations are there?
Answer: 680
Solution:
The problem can be translated as the number of combinations of choosing 4 from 13 members
and then excluding the number of combinations which all of them are boys.
We have
13 7
( )−( )
4 4
= 715 − 35
= 680.

8. Now is January. Which month will it be after 5910 months?

Answer: February
Solution:
5910 𝑚𝑜𝑑 12 ≡ 1110 (𝑚𝑜𝑑 12) ≡ (−1)10 (𝑚𝑜𝑑 12) ≡ 1𝑚𝑜𝑑 12
Hence, we have February, one month after January.
9. Given that 13𝑥 ≡ 819(𝑚𝑜𝑑 19), find the minimum value of |𝑥|.
Answer: 6
Solution:
13𝑥 ≡ 819(𝑚𝑜𝑑 19)
13𝑥 ≡ 2(𝑚𝑜𝑑 19)
13𝑥 ≡ 78(𝑚𝑜𝑑 19)
𝑥 ≡ 6(𝑚𝑜𝑑 19)

10. Find the number of combination(s) arranging 6 pairs of couples in a circle, such that each pair of
couple sits together.
Answer: 7680
Solution:
(6 − 1)! × 26
= 5! × 26
= 120 × 64
= 7680

11. There are 2 identical Mathematics books, 3 identical Chinese books and 5 identical English books.
How many different arrangement(s) is/are there?
Answer: 2520
Solution:
(2 + 3 + 5)! 10!
= = 2520
2! 3! 5! 2! 3! 5!

12. There are 4 red balls, 5 blue balls and 6 white balls in a bag. What is the probability of getting 2
blue balls if we pick 3 balls from the bag randomly?
20
Answer: 91
Solution:
(52) × (4 + 6) 10 × 10 20
= =
(4+5+6
3
) 455 91

2023!
13. If is an integer, find the maximum value of 𝑛.
33𝑛
Answer: 200
Solution:
33 = 3 × 11
Hence, we use the largest prime factor, which is 11.
Now,
2023 2023 2023
𝑛=⌊ ⌋+⌊ 2 ⌋+⌊ 3 ⌋+⋯
11 11 11
= 183 + 16 + 1 + 0
= 200.
14. There is a number 𝑛, such that adding 103 or subtracting 149 can result to a square number. Find
the smallest value of 𝑛.
Answer: 153
Solution:
𝑛 + 103 = 𝑥 2
𝑛 − 149 = 𝑦 2
252 = 𝑥 2 − 𝑦 2
252 = (𝑥 + 𝑦)(𝑥 − 𝑦)
We have
𝑥 = 16, 𝑦 = 2,
which gives us
𝑛 − 149 = 22
𝑛 = 4 + 149 = 153.

15. If 𝑥 and 𝑦 are positive integers such that 7𝑥 + 13𝑦 = 1400. Find the maximum value of 𝑥 + 𝑦.
Answer: 194
Solution:
In order to maximize the sum 𝑥 + 𝑦, we must minimize 𝑦 to also maximize 𝑥.
7𝑥 = 1400 − 13𝑦
13𝑦
𝑥 = 200 −
7
Note that 7 and 13 are coprime. This means that 𝑦 is divisible by 7.
When 𝑦 = 7, 𝑥 = 187.
Hence, the maximum value of 𝑥 + 𝑦 is 187 + 7 = 194.

21
16. Given 𝑥 is a real number, find the maximum of √𝑥 2 .
+12𝑥+85
Answer: 3
Solution:
21 21
=
√𝑥 2 + 12𝑥 + 36 + 49 √(𝑥 + 6)2 + 49
We attain maximum when denominator is minimum, that is when 𝑥 = −6.
Hence,
21 21
= = 3.
√49 7
17. Abel draws 4 balls randomly from a bag with 4 black balls and 6 white balls. Find the probability
that at least 2 white balls are drawn.
37
Answer:
42
Solution:
𝑃(𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 2 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒) = 1 − (𝑃(0 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒) + 𝑃(1 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒))
(60)(44) (61)(43)
= 1 − ( 10 + 10 )
(4) (4)
1(1) 6(4)
= 1−( + )
210 210
5
=1−
42
37
=
42

18. 30 cards are marked from 11 to 40 and 2 are drawn at random. Find the probability that one card
drawn is a multiple of 4 and another one is a multiple of 7.
31
Answer: 435
Solution:
There are eight multiples of 4 and four multiples of 7.
There is only one multiple of 4 and 7 which is 28.
Case 1: (if 28 is drawn)
We have seven multiples of 4 and three multiples of 7 left. We then have to pair 28 with any of
them to satisfy the condition, hence having 10 ways.
Case 2: (if 28 is not drawn)
The remaining 10 cards (seven multiples of 4 and three multiples of 7 left) can be paired with
each other, resulting to 21 ways.
Hence, we have
10 + 21 31
30 = .
(2) 435

19. There are 5 balls in a box including 2 black balls and 3 white balls. Also, 1 black ball is added every
4 seconds (0:04, 0:08, 0:12, … , 1:00). At 21 and 51 seconds, 1 white ball will be added into the
box. If it needs to wait 20 seconds after each draw, find the maximum value of the probability to
draw the white ball within 1 minute.
49
Answer: 57
Solution:
2 6 10 14
1−( × × × )
5 9 14 19
8
=1−
57
49
=
57
20. There are 52 cards marked with numbers 1 to 13 and there are 4 cards for each number. If we
pick 4 cards randomly, what is the probability that these 4 cards are marked with the same
number?
1
Answer: 20825
Solution:
3 2 1 1
1× × × =
51 50 49 20825

21. If 𝑥 and √𝑥 2 + 708 are positive integers, determine the number of possible value(s) of 𝑥.
Answer: 2
Solution:
Let 𝑦 be a positive integer such that 𝑦 = √𝑥 2 + 708.
We have
𝑦 2 = 𝑥 2 + 708
𝑦 2 − 𝑥 2 = 708
(𝑦 − 𝑥)(𝑦 + 𝑥) = 708
2
Factors of 708: 2 × 3 × 59
𝑦 − 𝑥 = 6, 𝑦 + 𝑥 = 118 => 𝑦 = 62, 𝑥 = 56
𝑦 − 𝑥 = 2, 𝑦 + 𝑥 = 354 => 𝑦 = 178, 𝑥 = 176
Hence, we have 2.

22. Determine the number of proper simplified fractions with denominator 2023.
Answer: 1632
Solution:
2023 = 7 × 172
We have
1 1
2023 (1 − ) (1 − )
7 17
6 16
= 2023 ( ) ( )
7 17
= 17(6)(16)
= 1632.

23. Given (𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒) is a set of nonnegative integers. Find the number of solution sets of
𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 + 𝑑 + 𝑒 = 12.
Answer: 1820
Solution:
Using stars and bars, we have
12 + 5 − 1
( )
5−1
16
=( )
4
16!
=
4! 12!
16 × 15 × 14 × 13
=
4×3×2×1
= 1820.
 𝑥 ≡ 5 𝑚𝑜𝑑 7
24. It is known that {𝑥 ≡ 7 𝑚𝑜𝑑 13. Find the smallest value of the 4-digit number 𝑥.
𝑥 ≡ 4 𝑚𝑜𝑑 9
Answer: 1489
Solution:
Using Chinese Remainder Theorem, we have
5 𝑚𝑜𝑑 7 7 𝑚𝑜𝑑 13 4 𝑚𝑜𝑑 9
𝑥≡ 13 × 9 × 𝟏 7×9×𝟑 7 × 13 × 𝟒
𝑥≡ 117 189 364
Now,
𝑥 ≡ (117 + 189 + 364) 𝑚𝑜𝑑 (𝐿𝐶𝑀(7,9,13)) ≡ 670 𝑚𝑜𝑑 819 ≡ 1489 𝑚𝑜𝑑 819.
Therefore, the minimum value of 𝑥 is 1489.

25. There are 2023 balls in a box, including 324 red, 736 blue and 963 green. A person draws a ball
randomly from the box. If a red ball is drawn, then he wins. If a blue ball is drawn, then he lost. If a
green ball is drawn, then he can draw again from the box. Find the probability that the person
wins.
81
Answer: 265
Solution:
324 81
=
324 + 736 265