Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /427 of 520

Combinatorics Difficulty 3.8 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

Let BB be the set of all binary integers that can be written using exactly 55 zeros and 88 ones where leading zeros are allowed. If all possible subtractions are performed in which one element of BB is subtracted from another, find the number of times the answer 11 is obtained.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

When 11 is subtracted from a binary number, the number of digits will remain constant if and only if the original number ended in 10.10. Therefore, every subtraction involving two numbers from BB will necessarily involve exactly one number ending in 10.10. To solve the problem, then, we can simply count the instances of such numbers. With the 1010 in place, the seven remaining 11's can be distributed in any of the remaining 1111 spaces, so the answer is (117)=330{11 \choose 7} = \boxed{330}.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.