NATURE

INSTITUTE OF BASIC SCIENCES

Mathematics: Concepts Sheet
(Basic Principles of Counting)

Basic Principles of Counting

Basic Principle of Addition
If a job maybe done in m different number of ways and another job maybe done in n different
ways, then exactly one of them maybe done in m+n different ways.

Example: The number of ways of choosing an item out of 4 different jackets and three different caps
is 4+3=7.

Basic Principle of Multiplication

If a job maybe done in m different ways, another job maybe done in n different ways, the two jobs
are independent, then both the jobs maybe done in m×n different ways.

Example: The number of ways of choosing a jacket and a cap out of four different jackets and three
caps is 4×3=12.

Pigeonhole Principle
If there are m pigeons in n pigeonholes and m>n, then there is at-least one pigeonhole that
contains more than one pigeonhole.

Example: In a gathering of at-least eight people, there are at-least two people who would be born
on the same day of the week.

Remarks:

1. The number of divisors of the number paqbrc, where p, q, r are prime is

(p+1)(q+1)(r+1).
Example: The number of divisors of the number 21234719 is (12+1)(4+1)(19+1)=1300.

2. The number of common divisors of two or more numbers equals the number of divisors of
their HCF.

Example: The number of common divisors of 3773 and 3479 is equal to the number of divisors
of 3473 i,e, (4+1)((3+1)=20.

3. The number of different possible orders a matrix with m entries equals the number of
divisors of m.

Example: A matrix with 1000=2353 entries has equals (3+1)(3+1)=16.