IITPAL

  Someone very rightly said: “God made the integers, every other number is  that the  work of  man. Now after more  than a century, no mathematician would deny the importance and utility of the developments that Kronecker railed against. Yet  I think  that a lot of  harbors some sympathy for his statement.  The integers hold a special place  within the  heart  of mathematicians.  Many of  the foremost  famous unsolved conjectures relate to the properties of the primes. More importantly, the integers are where we start mathematics: they are how we count.

  Combinatorics is not difficult, it's different.  We deal it very similar to other branches of mathematics, i.e.  use the equation/formulae  to get an answer. And this fails. in some sense, every problem in combinatorics requires a different formula. My conclusion is " you can not master combinatorics by remembering a few set of formulae."  Combinatorics can be treated as SCIENTIFIC COUNTING.  To b egin with, combinatorics the most basic part is the fundamental theorem of counting, create your own logic of connecting information given in the problem, and practice a lot more problem. Every good combinatorics problem requires a new road map, create it. The biggest confusion for beginners is in fact when to apply  Permutation and when to apply Combination.  Here is an easy way that can clear you concept: With permutations, every little detail matters. Ali, Bobby and Charl is different from Charl, Bobby, and Ali. Combinations, on the other hand, are ...