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Dutch Mathematical Olympiad

Netherlands counting and probability

Problem

Anna, Bella, and Celine are going to colour. There are six pencils, with different colours. They divide the pencils among themselves, in such a way that everyone gets at least one pencil. In how many different ways can they distribute the pencils? A) 537 B) 540 C) 720 D) 729 E) 1170
Solution
B) 540
Final answer
B

Techniques

Inclusion-exclusionRecursion, bijection