Get Answers to all your Questions

header-bg qa

Think about a 6\times 4 grid with A as the starting point and B as the finishing point. Each step can either be an upward or a rightward movement. Find the total number of shortest paths that lead to endpoint B .

Option: 1

110


Option: 2

210


Option: 3

3104


Option: 4

410


Answers (1)

best_answer

We must take 6 steps to the right and 4 steps up in order to go for the shortest distance to endpoint B . Let x and y each represent a step to the right and an upward step, respectively. Consequently, there are 6x steps and 4y steps in total.

These 6xs and 4ys can be arranged in any way to find the shortest path. The binomial coefficient provides the number of possible arrangements for these steps:
{ }^n \mathrm{C}_r=\frac{n !}{r !(n-r) !}
where n denotes the overall number of steps, r the number of steps taken in one particular direction, in this case to the right, and \left ( n-r \right ) the number of steps taken in the opposite direction, in this case upwards.

Using this equation, we obtain:
\begin{aligned} & { }^{10} \mathrm{C}_4=\frac{10 !}{4 !(10-4) !} \\ = & \frac{10 !}{4 ! \times 6 !} \\ = & 210 \end{aligned}
Total number of ways : 210 . 

 

Posted by

qnaprep

View full answer

JEE Main high-scoring chapters and topics

Study 40% syllabus and score up to 100% marks in JEE