Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

College of Engineering
Lesson 2 – Counting Rules
Rule 1: If an operation can be performed in n1 ways, and if for each of these ways a second operation
can be performed in n2 ways, then the two operations can be performed together in n1n2 ways.

Example 1: How many sample space points are there in the sample space when a pair of dice is thrown
once?

Solution: The first die can land face-up in any one of n1 = 6 ways. For each of these 6 ways, the second
die can also land face-up in n2 = 6 ways.
Therefore, the pair of dice can land in n 1n2 = 36 possible ways.

Example 2: A developer of a new subdivision offers prospective home buyers a choice of Tudor, rustic,
colonial, and traditional exterior styling in ranch, two-story, and split-level floor plans. In how many
different ways can a buyer order one of these homes?

Solution:
For exterior style n1 = 4, and Floor plan n2 = 3
Therefore, n1 x n2 = 4 x 3 = 12 possible homes

Rule 2: If an operation can be performed in n 1 ways, and if for each of these a second operation can
be performed in n2 ways, and for each of the first two a third operation can be performed in n3
ways, and so forth, then the sequence of k operations can be performed in n1n2……nk ways.

Example 3: Sam is going to assemble a computer by himself. He has the choice of chips from two
brands, a hard drive from four, memory from three, and an accessory bundle from five local stores.
How many different ways can Sam order the parts?

Solution:
Since n1= 2, n2 = 4, n3 = 3, n4 = 5
Therefore, n1 x n2 x n3 x n4 = 2 x 4 x 3 x 5 = 120 ways to order the parts.

Example 4: Carla has 9 shirts, 6 pairs of shoes, and 5 trousers. How many ways can Carla dress
herself?

Solution:
In dressing Carla needs a shirt, shoes, and trouser
Let shirt be n1 = 9
Pair of shoes n2 = 6
Trouser be n3 = 5
Therefore, n1 x n2 x n3 = 9 x 6 x 5 = 270 ways can she dress

1
EN MATH 4 – Engineering Data Analysis
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

College of Engineering
Permutation
A permutation is an arrangement of all or part of a set of objects.

Consider the letters a, b, and c. The possible permutations are abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, and cba. Thus,
there are 6 distinct arrangements.

Theorem 1: The number of permutations of n objects is n!

Note: n! is called “n factorial” is defined as n! = n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)….Ways. With special case 0! = 1

Example 5: What is the number of permutations of the three letters a, b, and c?

Solution:
n! = 3! = 6 ways

Theorem 2: The number of permutations of n distinct objects taken r at a time is

𝑛!
𝑛𝑃𝑟 =
(𝑛 − 𝑟 )!

Example 6: What are possible selection of taking two letters at a time from four letters a, b, c, d?

Solution:
n = 4, r = 2
𝑛! 4! 4𝑥3𝑥2𝑥1
𝑛𝑃𝑟 = = = = 𝟏𝟐 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔
(𝑛 − 𝑟)! (4 − 2)! 2𝑥1

Theorem 3: The number of permutations of n objects arranged in a circle is (n-1)!

Example 7: In how many ways can 6 people A, B, C, D, E, F be seated at a round table?

Solution:
P = (6 – 1)! = 120 ways

Theorem 4: The number of distinct permutations of n things of which n 1 are of one kind, n2 of a
second kind……nk of a kth kind is

𝑛!
𝑃 =
(𝑛1 !)(𝑛2 !) … . . (𝑛𝑘 !)

2
EN MATH 4 – Engineering Data Analysis
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

College of Engineering
Example 8: In a college football training session, the defensive coordinator needs to have 10 players
standing in a row. Among these 10 players, there are 1 freshman, 2 sophomores, 4 juniors, and 3
seniors. How many different ways can they arranged in a row if only their class level will be
distinguished?

Solution:
10!
𝑃 = = 𝟏𝟐, 𝟔𝟎𝟎
(1!)(2!)(4!)(3!)

Example 9: In how many ways can 7 graduate students be assigned to 1 triple and 2 double hotel
rooms during a conference?

Solution:
7!
𝑃 = = 𝟐𝟏𝟎
(3!)(2!)(2!)

Theorem 5: The number of combinations of n distinct objects taken r at a time is

𝑛!
𝑛𝐶𝑟 =
𝑟! (𝑛 − 𝑟)!

Example 10: A young boy asks his mother to get 5 Game-boy cartridges from his collection of 10
arcade and 5 sports games. How many ways are there that his mother can get 3 arcade and 2
sport games?

Solution:
The number of ways of selecting 3 cartridges from 10 is
10!
10𝐶3 = = 120
3! (10 − 3)!

The number of ways of selecting 2 cartridges from 5 is

5!
5𝐶2 = = 10
2! (5 − 2)!

Therefore, (120)(10) = 1,200

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EN MATH 4 – Engineering Data Analysis