[Math] $8$ teachers divided among $4$ schools. How many divisions are possible

combinatorics

This is related to How many ways can 10 teachers be divided among 5 schools?, but my question doesn't appear to have a direct answer there.

If 8 new teachers are to be divided among 4 schools, how many
divisions are possible?

The answer is $4^8$ because the teachers are distinguishable. But another way to reach this solution starts with
$$\sum_{n_1 + n_2 + n_3 + n_4=8}\binom{8}{n_1\ n_2\ n_3\ n_4}$$

We are dividing distinguishable things (teachers). How do we compute this summation? How do we count all the vectors $(n_1,n_2, n_3, n_4)$ such that $n_1 + n_2 + n_3 + n_4 = 8$?

Best Answer

This is just classic stars and bars problem. The solution is:

$$\binom{n+m-1}{n} = \binom{8+4-1}{8}$$

if it's allowed a a school to have no teacher. While if a school must have at least one teacher the solution is:

$$\binom{k-1}{n-1} = \binom{7}{3}$$

For better explantion on this method you can read about it one the Wikipedia page. It has a really nice explanation.