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I am trying to solve the following puzzle:

I have nine cards, where six of them are labelled $1$ through $6$ and the remaining three are indistinguishable and labelled with 7. Calculate the number of ways I can pick a set of three cards such that at least one is odd.

First of all, it's not clear to me if the order matters, i.e. does drawing $\{1, 2, 7\}$ count the same as $\{2, 1, 7\}$? I am assuming the order does not matter.

I believe there are $42$ possible card draws. I calculated this by considering three cases:

  1. In the first case we draw three distinct integers and there are ${}_7C_3 = 35$ ways to do this.
  2. In the second case we draw two $7$s and one non seven, there are $6$ ways to do this ($\{7, 7, 1\}, \{7, 7, 2\},\dots, \{7, 7, 6\}$).
  3. In the third case we draw three 7s and there is only $1$ way to do this.

Summing the three cases gives $42 = 35 + 6 + 1$.

Finally, there is only one way to have all even cards. Therefore, the number of ways I can pick a set of three cards such that at least one is odd is $42 - 1 = 41$.

Is my answer correct? Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated.

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    $\begingroup$ I agree with your answer. "a size 3 set" does imply to me that order is irrelevant, though it is frustrating that the question author would choose to write it in this manner when there are more appropriate words that could be used like multiset. $\endgroup$
    – JMoravitz
    Commented Oct 10, 2023 at 15:32
  • $\begingroup$ Be warned that your final answer does not translate easily to a probability, though the approach certainly does. If we were to talk about the probability of such an occurrence, even though the sevens are indistinguishable in reality, since they occupy different positions in space the most natural thing to do is to assume they are in fact distinguishable which leads to $\binom{9}{3}$ equally likely outcomes, again only one of which involves only even cards. $\endgroup$
    – JMoravitz
    Commented Oct 10, 2023 at 15:34
  • $\begingroup$ As I read it, you are choosing a subset of the cards, not the numbers. Hence the 7's are distinct. I agree it is ambiguous. $\endgroup$
    – lulu
    Commented Oct 10, 2023 at 15:35
  • $\begingroup$ @lulu The question says the three 7s are indistinguishable which suggest we shouldn't treat them as distinct. $\endgroup$
    – Peanutlex
    Commented Oct 10, 2023 at 15:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Peanutlex. Yeah, I suppose. Feels like bad phrasing to me, but I agree that that's what indistinguishable ought to mean. $\endgroup$
    – lulu
    Commented Oct 10, 2023 at 15:40

1 Answer 1

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I have tried like this,

Case I: One 7 and two cards from {1,2,3,4,5,6}

$6C2=15$ ways.

Case II: Two 7's and two cards from {1,2,3,4,5,6}

$6C1=6$ ways.

Case III: Three 7's

$1$ way.

Case IV: Three cards from {1,2,3,4,5,6}

$3$ odds, $3$ evens. To get atleast 1 odd,

$3C3\times3C0[three\ odds]+ 3C1 \times 3C2[one\ odd] +3C2 \times 3C1[two\ odds]=19$

Hence, total possible ways is $15+6+1+19=41$ ways.

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