[Math] Distribute 10 white and 10 black balls into 20 distinct boxes s.t. no box is empty

probabilityprobability distributions

How many ways are there to distribute 10 white and 10 black balls into 20 distinct boxes such that no box is empty?

Solution is that ${20!}/{10!10!}$. How can we write this? Please can you explain this solution clearly?

Best Answer

There are $20$ boxes and $20$ balls in total, so each box must receive exactly one ball. The question is reduced to choosing which $10$ boxes get black balls and which $10$ get white balls, which is equivalent to choosing $10$ boxes to put the black balls in and filling the rest with white balls. The number of ways to choose $10$ boxes out of $20$ is $${20 \choose 10} = \frac{20!}{10!\cdot 10!},$$ which is the answer.

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