2 numbers are chosen from $1,3,5..151$ and multiplied in all possible ways. Find number of ways such that product is a multiple of 5

combinationspermutations

Number of available elements = 76

Elements that are a multiple of 5 = 15

Now one perfectly acceptable answer for this is
$$\binom {30}{2} +\binom{15}{1}\times \binom {46}{1}$$

I understood how it came, that isn’t the problem.

But why can’t $\binom {15}{1} \times \binom{75}{1}$ be used? It basically means choosing 1 element from the 15 special elements and choosing 1 elements from every other number left.

Best Answer

To summarize the discussion in the comments:

Given that we are choosing from the list $\{1,3,5,\cdots, 151\}$, that is, the odd integers from $1$ to $151$, inclusive, there are $15$ multiples of $5$ available, and $61$ non-multiples of $5$.

We wish to count the ways to choose two distinct terms from this list such that at least one of them is a multiple of $5$. The spirit of the first calculation is: first count those pairs in which both terms are multiples of $5$ then add the pairs in which exactly one is a multiple of $5$. The arithmetic is off, however, and the formula ought to read $$\binom {15}2+\binom {15}1\times \binom {61}1=1020$$

The second method is flawed because it double counts those pairs in which both terms are multiples of $5$. We can fix that by subtracting the number of such pairs, namely:

$$\binom {15}1\times \binom {75}1-\binom {15}2=1020$$

As a third method, in the spirit of the proposed solution from @ChristianBlatter, we can count all possible pairs and subtract off those in which neither term is a multiple of $5$. Thus: $$\binom {76}2-\binom {61}2=1020$$