Number of ways in which p positive and n negative signs may be placed in a row so that no two negative signs shall be together ?. More than an answer, I need the reasoning behind the answer. Suppose you have p=10 positive signs and n=4 negative signs: + + + + + + + + + + 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Since negative signs cannot come together, we can only put one negative sign before any of the 10 positive signs, plus we can also place a negative sign after the 10th positive sign. So there are 11 places we can insert a negative sign, and we must choose 4 of those to place the 4 negative signs: So the answer for this specific case is 11C4 The reasoning is the same for any number p of positive signs and any number n of negative signs. We can only put one negative sign before any of the p positive signs, plus we can also place a negative sign after the pth positive sign. So there are p+1 places we can insert a negative sign, and we must choose n of those to place the n negative signs: So the answer is "(p+1) choose n" which is also called "the number of combinations of p+1 things taken n at a time". It is sometimes written, sometimes written and sometimes written It is calculated as You need not worry if you have too many negative signs, i.e., if n > p+1, for the number of combinations is always defined as 0 in those cases. Edwin