Balls Into Boxes, None Empty

Combinatorics
Stars and Bars
Easy
Ten identical balls are distributed among four labeled boxes, with every box receiving at least one ball. How many allocations exist?
Hint 1

Place one ball in each box first to satisfy the minimum requirement.

Hint 2

Distribute the remaining balls freely using stars and bars.

Show worked solution
  1. 1. Reduce to the unrestricted problem

    After giving each of the boxes one ball, balls remain to be freely distributed.

Answer: 84

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