Fundamentals of Counting

Principle
GROUP 3

Aldea, Czarina
Bitbit, John Clay
Castro, Kenn Lester
Francisco, Marian
Halina, Kate Claire
Honrade, Teia Rein
Fundamental Counting Principle

 The rule for finding the number of possible outcomes.

 States that if an event has “m” possible outcomes and another

independent event has “n” possible outcomes, then there are mn
possible outcomes for the two events together. The counting principle
can be extended to situations where you have more than 2 choices.
Example 1

 Let say you want to flip a coin and roll a die.

 There are 2 ways you can flip a coin and 6 ways you can roll a die.
 There are then 2x6 = 12 ways that you can flip a coin and roll a die.
Example 2

 If you want to draw 2 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards with out
replacing them.
 There are 52 ways to draw the first and 51 ways to draw the second
card.
 There are a total of 52*51 = 2652 ways to draw the 2 cards.
Example 3: With Repetition
 Olivia’s licenses plates have 3#’s followed by 3 letters.
How many different licenses plates are possible if digits and letters can
be repeated?

There are 10 choices for digits and 26 choices for letters.

10x10x10x26x26x26
= 17,576,000 different plates
Example 4: Without Repetition

 Olivia’s licenses plates have 3#’s followed by 3 letters.

How many different licenses plates are possible if digits and letters can be
repeated?

There are still 10 choices for the 1st digits but only 9 for the 2nd, and 8
for the 3rd.
For letters, there are 26 for the 1st, but only 25 for the 2nd , and 24 for
the 3rd.
10x9x8x26x25x24 = 11,232,000 plates
Counting Techniques & Tree Diagram

 There are times when the sample space or event space are very large, that it
isn’t feasible to write it out. In that case, it helps to have mathematical tools for
counting the size of the sample space and event space. These tools are known
as Counting Techniques.

 Tree Diagram is a diagram that branches out and ends in leaves that
correspond to the final variety. A tool in the fields of general
mathematics, probability, and statistics that helps calculate the number
of possible outcomes of an event or problem, and to cite those
potential outcomes in an organized way.
Example 1
 How many three letter “words” can be made from the letters a, b, and c with no letters
repeating? A “word” is just an ordered group of letters. It doesn’t have to be a real word in
a dictionary.
Solution
There are three tasks that must be done in this case. The tasks are to pick the first letter,
then the second letter, and then the third letter. The first task can be done 3 ways since
there are 3 letters. The second task can be done 2 ways, since the first task took one of the
letters. The third task can be done 1 ways, since the first and second task took two of the
letters.

3*2*1= 6
Tree Diagram
Example 2
 Two balls are to be selected without replacement from a bag that contains 1
red, 1 blue, 1 green and 1 orange ball.
SOLUTION:
There are 3*4= 12 sample points.
Example 3

 Suppose a salesperson can travel from New York to Pittsburgh by plane, train,
or bus, and from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati by bus, boat, or automobile.
 The Factorial !

 The multiplication of all positive integers, say “n”, that will be smaller than
or equivalent to n is known as the factorial. The factorial of a positive integer
is represented by the symbol “n!”.
 which is used to find how many ways things can be arranged or the ordered
set of numbers.
 To find the factorial of the number, multiply the number with the factorial
value of the previous number.
Evaluating Factorials like n!

 Formula:

n!= n(n-1)…2x1
Example:
6!= 6(6-1)(6-2)(6-3)(6-4)(6-5)
6!= 6x5x4x3x2x1
6!= 720
Evaluating factorials like n!

Example:
5!
5! = 5(5-1)(5-2)(5-3)(5-4)
5! = 5X4X3X2X1
5! = 120
Evaluating Factorials like n!

 3! + 3 ≠ 6! …….. Why?  0! = 1 ….. Why?

 Factorial of a number in
 3!=3*2*1=6 mathematics is the product of
all the positive numbers less
 3!+3!=12 than or equal to a number. But
 6!=6*5*4*3*2*1=720 there are no positive values
less than zero so the data set
 12≠720 cannot be arranged which
counts as the possible
combination of how data can
be arranged (it cannot). Thus,
0! = 1.
 Simplify the following:
6! / 4!

17! / (14! 3!)

 Permutation
 Is the order arrangement of distinguishable objects without
allowing repetitions among the objects.
 A permutation is a mathematical technique that determines
the number of possible arrangements in a set when the
order of the arrangements matters. Common mathematical
problems involve choosing only several items from a set of
items with a certain order.
Kinds of Permutation

 Linear Permutation
 Circular Permutation
 Distinguishable Permutation
 Linear Permutation

 Linear Permutation refers to the number of ordered

arrangement of objects in a line.

Formulas:
nPr = n!
nPk = n!/(n-k)!
 Linear Permutation

The difference between the two is that:

Rule 1- is taken n at once
Rule 2 – is taken r at a time

Where:
n- the total number of elements in a set
k – the number of selected elements arranged in a specific order
f - factorial
Example 1

 Ten runners participated in a competition. In how many

ways can be the participants ranked from 1st to 10th
place after the competition.

Solution:
nPn = n!
10P10 = 10!
= 10•9•8•7•6•5•4•3•2•1
= 3 628 800 ways
Example 2

 Find the number of ways in which 4 persons can sit on 6

chair.
Solution:

nPr= 6*5*4*3
= 360 ways
Example 3
 How many different ways can the letters in the word OBJECTS be
arranged?

SOLUTION:
nPr = n!

nPr = 7*6*5*4*3*2*1

nPr = 5040
 Circular Permutation
 Circular Permutation is an ordered arrangement of objects in a circular
manner.
There are two types of circular permutation:
When clockwise and anticlockwise are different
When clockwise and anticlockwise are the same

Formulas:

Pn = (n-1)!
Pn = (n-1)!/2!
Example

 Calculate circular permutation of 4 persons sitting around a

round table.

Solution: there are 6 ways

Pn = (n-1)!
Pn = (4-1)!
Pn = 3!
Pn = 3*2*1
Pn= 6
Example
 In how many ways can 6 people be seated at a round table?

Solution: There are 120 ways

Pn = (n-1)!
Pn = (6-1)!
Pn = 5!
Pn = 120
Example 3

 Suppose 7 students are sitting around a circle. Calculate

the number of permutations if clockwise and
anticlockwise arrangements are the same.
 SOLUTION:
Pn = (n-1)!/ 2!
Pn = (7-1)!/ 2!
Pn = 6!/ 2!
Pn = 720/ 2
Pn = 360
 Distinguishable Permutation
Distinguishable permutations are permutations that can be
distinguished from one another.

Formula:

nPr= n!/p!q!r!
Example 1
 Find the number of words that can be formed out of the letters of the word
OHIO.
 Solution: There are 12 ways

nPr = n!/p!q!r!
nPr = 4!/2!
nPr= 24/4
nPr = 12
Example 2
Find the number of words that can be formed out of the letters of the
word MISSISSIPI.
Solution: There are 34,650 ways

nPr = n!/p!q!r!
nPr = 11!/(4!)(4!)(2!)
nPr = 11!/(24)(24)(2)
nPr = 39,916,800/1,152
nPr = 34,650
 COMBINATION

 A combination is a mathematical technique that determines the

number of possible arrangements in a collection of items where the
order of the selection does not matter. In combinations, you can
select the items in any order.
Example
 Find the number of combinations, if n = 15 and r = 3.
 SOLUTION:
C = n!/(n – r)! r!
= 15!/(15 – 3)!3!
= 15!/12!3!
= (15 x 14 x 13 x 12! )/12!3!
= 15 x 14 x 13/6
= 2730/6
= 455
Example
 A man will go on a trip for 3 days, so he will take with him 3 shirts, if he
has 7 shirts, how many combination of shirts can he take.

 SOLUTION:
nCr = n!/(n-r)! r!
7C3= 7!/(7-3)! * 3!
7C3= 7!/4! * 3!
7C3= 7*6*5*4!/4! * 3!
7C3= 7*6*5*4!/4! * 3!
7C3= 7*6*5/3!
7C3= 7*6*5/3*2*1
7C3= 210/6
7C3= 35
Example
 In a bucket there are 10 balls, every ball is numbered from 1 to 10, if
somebody pulls out 3 of this balls randomly, how many combination of
could he take.
 SOLUTION:

nCr = n!/(n-r)! * r!
10C3 = 10!/(10-3)! * 3!
10C3 = 10!/7! * 3!
10C3 = 10*9*8*7!/7! * 3!
10C3 = 10*9*8*7!/7! * 3!
10C3 = 10*9*8/3!
10C3 = 720/6
10C3 = 120