TOPIC: COUNTING TECHNIQUES

ABSTRACT:
This paper contains different counting techniques in probability. Counting techniques
are techniques in finding the number of elements in a sample space or in an experiment. There
are three techniques and these are fundamental counting principle, permutation, and
combination.

OBJECTIVES:
a. Identify the different counting techniques.
b. Find the total number of outcomes using the fundamental counting principle,
permutation formula, and combination formula.
c. Appreciate the importance of counting techniques in solving real-life problems.

LEARNING CONTENT:
Topic I: Fundamental Counting Principle
The fundamental counting principle states that if there are p ways to do one
thing, and q ways to do another thing, then there are p × q ways to do both things.

Examples 1:

Suppose you have 3 shirts (call them A, B, and C), and 4 pairs of pants (call them
w, x, y, and z). Then you have

3 × 4 = 12 possible outfits:

Aw, Ax, Ay, Az

Bw, Bx, By, Bz

Cw, Cx, Cy, Cz

Example 2:

Suppose you roll a 6-sided die and draw a card from a deck of 52 cards. There
are 6 possible outcomes on the die, and 52 possible outcomes from the deck of cards. So,
there are a total of

6 × 52 = 312 possible outcomes of the experiment

The counting principle can be extended to situations where you have more than
2 choices. For instance, if there are p ways to do one thing, q ways to a second thing, and
r ways to do a third thing, then there are p × q × r ways to do all three things.

Topic II: Permutation

A permutation is an arrangement of objects in specific order. The order of the

arrangement is important.
A formula for the number of possible permutations of k objects from a set of n.
This is usually written nPk .

a. If n > k, then

n!
nPk =
(n  k )!
Example:

Find the number of ways to arrange 5 objects that are chosen from a set of 7
different objects.

7! 7 x6 x5 x4 x3x2 x1
7P5 = 7· 6· 5· 4· 3 = 2520 or p5    2520
(7  5)!
7
2 x1

b. If n = k, then

nPk = n!

Example:

What is the total number of possible 5-letter arrangements of the letters w, h, i, t,

e, if each letter is used only once in each arrangement?

5 P5 = 5· 4· 3· 2· 1 = 120 or simply 5!

c. If there are n items with n1 alike, n2 alike, n3 alike, . . ., nk alike, the number
of permutations is calculated by dividing n factorial by the product of the
factorials of the number of occurrences of each of the like items.
n!
nPk=
(n1!)( n2 !)( n3!)...( nn !)
Example:

Find how many ways you can rearrange the word "BANANA" all at a time?

Solution:

Given words: BANANA

Total number of letters in "BANANA" = 6
Total number of "A" in the word "BANANA" = 3
Total number of "N" in the word "BANANA" = 2
6! 6 x5 x 4 x3!
so, the permutation =   60
3!2! 3!2!

d. Circular Permutation

When things are arranged in places along a closed curve or a circle, in

which any place may be regarded as the first or last place, they form a
circular permutation.

The number of circular permutations of n different objects is (n-1)!

Example:

How many ways can eight people sit around a round table?

Pn = (8-1)!=7!=5,040

Topic III: Combination

 A combination is a way of selecting several things out of a larger group,
where order does not matter.

A formula for the number of possible combinations of r objects from a set

of n objects. This is written as n C r .

a. Without repetition

n!
Formula: Cr 
(n  r )! r!
n

Example:

Five people are in a club and three are going to be in the planning committee.
How many different ways this committee can be created?

Solution:

5! 5x4
C3    10
(5  3)!3! 2 x1
5

b. With repetition

(n  r  1)!
Formula: n C r 
r!(n  1)!

Example:

Let us say there are five flavors of ice-cream: banana, chocolate, lemon,
strawberry and vanilla. You can have three scoops. How many variations will there be?

Solution:

(5  3  1)! 7!
C3    35
3!(5  1)! 3!4!
5

SUMMARY/GENERALIZATION:

The different counting techniques include the fundamental counting principle,

permutation, and combination.

CONCLUSION:

Finding the number of elements in a sample space or in an experiment is not easy

without the use of the different counting techniques. So, it is very important to learn
about the said techniques because it is very useful especially when the experiments
have thousands or millions of elements.

CURRICULUM VITAE:

I am Azel D. Gantala, single, and am currently living at Canlupao Tomas, Oppus

Southern Leyte. I was born on October 29, 1988. I graduated with the degree of Bachelor
of Secondary Education- Major in Mathematics at Southern Leyte State University-
Tomas Oppus last March 2010. I am currently teaching at Liloan National Technical
Vocational High School. At the same time, a student of Southern Leyte State University-
Tomas Oppus taking up the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching-Mathematics.