What the parent message did is: log2(32+4-1 C 4), because the number of k-sized combinations of n objects with repetitions is (n+k-1)Ck. One way to prove it is

What the parent message did is: log2(32+4-1 C 4), because the number of k-sized combinations of n objects with repetitions is (n+k-1)Ck. One way to prove it is that you sort the objects (so you can establish an order among the objects in the combination) and add k-1 dummy objects for "the second is the same as the first, the third is the same as the second,..., the last is the same as the penultimate".