First we count the number of 7 digit integers that contain no other digits than 6's, 7's, or 8's. Choose the 1st digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. Choose the 2nd digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. Choose the 3rd digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. Choose the 4th digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. Choose the 5th digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. Choose the 6th digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. Choose the 7th digit 3 ways, either 6, 7, or 8. That's 3∙3∙3∙3∙3∙3∙3 = 37 = 2187 ways That's the numerator of the desired probability, the number of ways we can succeed in drawing a 7 digit integers that contains no other digits than 6's, 7's, or 8's. Now we count the number of ways to choose ANY 7-digit number between 1000000 and 9999999: Two ways to do that. We could do it as above, but the easy way is to realize there are 9999999 integers' from 1 through 9999999, inclusive, and we eliminate those between 1 through 999999, those with fewer than 7 digits, and there are 999999 of those, so we subtract: 9999999 -999999 ------- 9000000 = the denominator of the desired probability, the number of ways to succeed or fail. Desired probability = 2187/9000000 which reduces by dividing top and bottom by 9: Answer = 243/1000000 ------------------------- What is the probability it contains two 6's, three 7's, and two 8's? There are 7 positions a digit in a 7-digit integer which a digit can occupy. There are '7 positions choose 2' or 7C2=21 ways to fill in the two 6's. There then remain 5 positions to fill. There are '5 positions choose 3' or 5C3=10 ways to fill in the three 7's. There remain 2 positions to fill. There are '2 positions choose 2' or 2C2=1 way to fill in the two 8's. Answer = (7C2)(5C3)(2C2) = 21∙10∙1 = 210 ways Notice it would not have mattered if we had filled in the 7's first: There are '7 positions choose 3' or 7C3=35 ways to fill in the three 7's. There then remain 4 positions to fill. There are '4 positions choose 2' or 4C2=6 ways to fill in the two 6's. There remain 2 positions to fill. There are '2 positions choose 2' or 2C2=1 way to fill in the two 8's. Answer = (7C3)(4C2)(2C2) = 35∙6∙1 = 210 ways That was not a necessary step, but just to show you that you can choose them in any order. Desired probability = 210/9000000 which reduces by dividing top and bottom by 30: Answer = 7/300000 Edwin