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Combinatorics And Campus Security, Arthur T. Benjamin
Combinatorics And Campus Security, Arthur T. Benjamin
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One day I received electronic mail from our director of campus security [Gilbraith 1993]:
"I have a puzzle for you that has practical applications for me. I need to know how many different combinations there are for our combination locks. A lock has 5 buttons. In setting the combination you can use only 1button or as many as 5. Buttons may be pressed simultaneously and / or successively, but the same button cannot be used more than once in the same combination.
I had a student (obviously not a math major) email me that there are only 120 possibilities, but …