BasicCountingPattern Basic

Problem - 4264

In the following $5\times 4\times 3$ grid system, how many shortest routes are there from point $A$ to point $B$?


A shortest route requires $5+4+3=12$ steps, among which $5$, $4$ and $3$ steps should follow the three directions, respectively. Therefore the answer is $$\frac{12!}{5!\cdot 4!\cdot 3!}$$

In general, the number of shortest route on a $(a\times b\times c)$ grid is $$\frac{(a+b+c)!}{a!\cdot b!\cdot c!}$$

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