Many of you know Yanghui's Triangle as Pascal's triangle. However, about 500 years earlier (according to Wolfram Mathworld), a Chinese mathematician Yanghui studied this triangle. In China, it is referred to as the Yanghui Triangle. How is it produced? In my previous blog post, Counting Can Be Really Tough, I introduced you to combinations. As a … Continue reading The Yanghui Triangle, Part I
Tag: Combinations
Jumping Lily Pads
A frog on the shore (think of the shore as lily pad zero) has a line of 20 lily pads, each numbered 1 to 20. The frog is able to jump one or two lily pads at a time. That is, starting from shore, the first jump can either be to lily pad 1 or … Continue reading Jumping Lily Pads
Counting When There Are Repeats
How many ways can you arrange the letters in the word "MISSISSIPPI"? This is a popular problem that I always bring up with my statistics students who are first learning how to count. If you are not familiar with the three counting techniques of factorials, permutations, and combinations, bring yourself up to speed by reading … Continue reading Counting When There Are Repeats
