103 combinatorics/transitions.p
Description
This article is from the Puzzles FAQ, by Chris Cole chris@questrel.questrel.com and Matthew Daly mwdaly@pobox.com with numerous contributions by others.
103 combinatorics/transitions.p
How many n-bit binary strings (0/1) have exactly k transitions
(an adjacent pair of dissimilar bits, i.e., a 01 or a 10)?
combinatorics/transitions.s
A transition can occur at an adjacent pair (i,i+1) where 1<=i<i+1<=n.
Since there are k transitions, there are C(n-1,k) total number of ways
that transitions can occur. But the string may start with a 1 or a 0
(after which its transitions uniquely determine the string). So there
are a total of 2C(n-1,k) such strings.
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