How many four-digit integers have the property that their digits, read left to right, are in strictly decreasing order?
Solution
1. Identify the digits and constraints: We need to find four-digit integers where the digits are in strictly decreasing order and the number is odd. The digits available are .
2. Choose 4 digits out of 10: We need to choose 4 digits from the set . The number of ways to choose 4 digits from 10 is given by the binomial coefficient:
3. **Calculate **:
4. Determine the symmetry: Since we are looking for odd numbers, the last digit must be odd. The odd digits available are . We need to ensure that the last digit is one of these odd digits.
5. Count the odd-ending sequences: For each choice of 4 digits, exactly one of the sequences will be in strictly decreasing order. We need to count how many of these sequences end in an odd digit.
6. Calculate the number of valid sequences: Since there are 5 odd digits, we can choose 3 more digits from the remaining 9 digits (excluding the chosen odd digit). The number of ways to choose 3 digits from 9 is given by:
7. **Calculate **:
8. Sum the valid sequences: We need to repeat this calculation for each of the 5 odd digits:
9. Adjust for symmetry: Since we are only interested in the odd sequences, we divide by 2 (as half of the sequences will be even and half will be odd):
10. Final adjustment: The initial solution provided a shortcut by dividing by 2 directly, which is correct. The detailed steps confirm that the number of odd four-digit integers with strictly decreasing digits is: