# Questions tagged [combinatorics]

Questions related to combinatorics and discrete mathematical structures

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### Algorithm for creating n-multiset out of x?

I have a problem that can be modelled by 15 undistinguishable balls to 21 boxes. The state of a node is defined by indices from 1 to 21 and corresponding values from 0 to 15, with the constraint that ...
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### Predicting the outcome of sporting events with multiplicative scoring

In the Olympic format for sport climbing, eight athletes compete in three rounds of climbing. Their final score is the multiplication of their rankings in each round. For example, an athlete who comes ...
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### An iterative algorithm for finding the partitions of a set into subsets of a fixed size

The question is whether someone could provide an algorithm for finding all the partitions of a set S into subsets of fixed size (assume the fixed size is 2, to make things simpler, in which case the ...
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### Conditions under which the 3-partition problem is not strongly NP-complete?

I'm a bit confused about the 3-partition problem. More specifically I'm confused about this from the Wikipedia article: Let B denote the (desired) sum of each subset Si, or equivalently, let the ...
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### Possible number of DFAs, NFAs, DPDAs, NPDAs, NDTMs and DTMs for various input parameters

I came across problem asking for possilble number of DFAs for a given number of states and alphabet. I started guessing if we can find possible number different automatas for given number of states, ...
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### Which is the most similar NP classic problem, if any exists, to this one?

Consider a given set $W = \{w_1, w_2,...,w_N\}$ of weights, such that $\sum_{i=1}^N w_i = 0$. Consider the given set of mutually different elements $A=\{a_1,a_2,...,a_M\}$ with $M\leq N$. Consider the ...
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### Polynomial multiplications and counting

I came across the following problem. Given a set of $n$ positive integers $A$ and an integer $k$. Let $S$ be the set of integers that are the sum of $k$ distinct integers in $A$. Mathematically ...
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### How to compute total number of subsequences of length k from a word of length N?

A subsequence of a word is obtained by dropping some letters from it. The letters that are dropped need not be consecutive. For instance, ba, bna and banaa are all subsequences of the word banana. We ...
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### Help with an algorithm task

I've been given a task that I had issue solving. Problem statement: John likes jumping so he is about to build a new jumping terrain. The terrain consists of N blocks, and in each block he can ...
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### coloring of an interval graph with constraints

Given an interval graph that represents a set of tasks, in a given period of time, to be assigned to a set of employees, the objective is to find a minimum coloring of this graph such that the total ...
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### Combinations and Permutations of M sets of distinct items?

I'm wokring on this problem for a while. I want to know: The correct name of this problem, so I can look it up in textbooks\online. Here is the problem descirption: The (un-ordered) combinations to ...
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### How to solve this dynamic programming puzzle on matrix?

We are given 4 integers N,M ,Q and Z. Initially,the matrix has all zeroes in it. We have to perform Q operations on the matrix. In each operation, any cell of the matrix can be selected(same cell ...
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### What is the density of a regular language $L$ over an alphabet $\Sigma$ in $\Sigma^n$?

In other words, what is the likelihood that a recognizer of a given regular language will accept a random string of length $n$?   If there is only a single non-terminal $A$, then there are only ...
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### Karger's min-cut (contraction): Combinatorial argument for success probability?

The contraction algorithm for min-cut is: pick an edge $(u,v)$ uniformly at random, and "contract" it by merging $u$ and $v$ into a single vertex, deleting self-loops. Continue until two vertices ...
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### Maximal size of a set of ordered words such that no pair of letters occurs twice

Consider an alphabet $\Sigma=\{1,\dots,n\}$. An ordered word is a word $w=w_1w_2\dots w_k\in\Sigma^*$ such that $w_1<w_2<\dots<w_k$. In other words, an ordered word is a strictly increasing ...
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### When do we use parallel algorithms for enumerating combinations?

I know that combination is used in many areas. But do we really need parallel version of algorithms for that? If so, where do they used? Here is a famous example of parallel algorithms, Adaptive and ...
126 views

### Permutation of n-size array with possible repeated elements. E.g [1, 2, 1]

What would it be a recursive algorithm to get permutations for any list of n elements that might contain or not repeated elements? For the following 3-element list ...