Fundamental Principles

of Counting
Counting Techniques
and
Probability
Fundamental Principle of Counting

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Pe r m

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 Fundamental Principle of Counting
If a choice consists of two steps, the first of
which can be done in p ways,
and for each of these, the second
can be done in q ways,
then the whole choice can be done in pq ways.

1 3 6 7 9
2 8 10
5 4 11 12
Example 1: A prospective buyer of a new car
can choose between manual or automatic
transmission and can also choose from 4
colors: red, blue, pink or green. How many
different choices does the buyer have?
SOLUTION: Two choices for transmission:
manual or automatic, p = 2
Four choices for color:
Red, Blue, Pink, Green, q = 4
Therefore, pq = 2(4) = 8 choices
TRANSMISSION COLOR OUTCOMES

Red Manual Red

Blue Manual Blue
Manual Manual Pink
Pink
Green Manual Green
Red Automatic Red
Blue Automatic Blue
Automatic Automatic Pink
Pink
Green Automatic Green
Example 2 For your morning
snack, you may
choose from coffee,
milk or juice.
You also have two
choices for sandwich:
ham or tuna.
How many possible
snacks are there?

Solution:
p=3 q=2 pq = 3(2) = 6
Tree Diagram – systematic way of
listing all the possible choices.

COFFEE MILK JUICE

HAM TUNA HAM TUNA HAM TUNA

1. Coffee and ham 2. Coffee and tuna

3. Milk and ham 4. Milk and tuna
5. Juice and ham 6. Juice and tuna
 Generalized Counting
Principle
AJ bag factory manufactures ladies bags
in 8 styles, 6 colors and 4 sizes.
How many different bags are available?
p = 8 styles
q = 6 colors
r = 4 sizes
pqr = 8(6)(4) = 192 bags
 A car license plate consists of any three
letters followed by any three digits.
How many possible license plates are there?

P Y P - 2 8 8
MATATAG NA REPUBLIKA 2012

26 x 26 x 26 x 10 x 10 x 10
= 17,576,000 license plates
Suppose there are no repetitions
of letters and digits
26 x 25 x 24 x 10 x 9 x 8 = 11,232,000
Looking for Hit-and-Run Plate Number

A witness to a hit-and-run accident told the police

that the plate number of the suspect’s car contained
the letters X L followed by a different letter, and
then
followed by three digits, the first of which is 4.
The witness cannot recall the last 2 digits, but is
certain that all 3 digits are different.
Find the maximum number of car registrations that
the police may have to check.
Solution:

Letters A to Z 0 1 2 3 5
except X and L 6 7 8 9

X L __ 4 __ __

1x1 x 24 x 1 x 9 x 8
= 1,728 registrations
In how many ways can
a clown distribute 10
balloons with different
colors to 5 children if
each child gets only
one balloon?

10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6
= 30,240 ways
How many 11-digit cellphone
numbers can be formed if
each begins with 0917?

0 9 1 7 __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Each digit has 10 choices

(10)(10)(10)(10)(10)(10)(10) = 10,000,000
If there are 7 doors providing access to
St. La Salle Hall, in how many ways can
a person enter the hall by one door and
leave by a different door?

Ans. (7)(6) = 42
 A pizza can be ordered with 3 choices of size
(small, medium, or large), 4 choices of crust
(thin, thick, crispy, or regular), and 5 choices
of toppings (beef, bacon, pepperoni, cheese
or mushroom). How many one-topping pizzas
can be ordered?

Ans.
(3)(4)(5) = 60 pizzas
 Exercises
1. Cars are offered for sale with 3 body styles, 6 colors, 3
types of engines, with or w/o air bag, with or w/o aircon,
ordinary rim or magwheels. How many different choices
does a buyer have? Ans. 432
2. An ice cream sundae can be made from the flavors:
chocolate, strawberry, mango, ube, cheese or vanilla
and 3 toppings. It can also be ordered with or without
whipped cream. How many ice cream sundaes can a
customer order? Ans. 36
3. A food chain serves 3 appetizers, 5 main dishes, 2
salads and 4 desserts. How many different meals can
be ordered? Ans. 120
4. How many car license plates can be made if each has 3
different digits followed by 2 different letters?
(10)(9)(8)(26)(25) = 468,000
 Factorial is the product of all positive integers less than
or equal to a given positive integer and denoted by that
integer (n) and an exclamation point. Thus n! is read as n
factorial
5! = 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120
4! = 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24
3! = 3 × 2 × 1 = 6
2! = 2 x 1 = 2
1! = 1
0! = 1
 Evaluate each factorial notation.
•  
A. 6! = 6 𝑥 5 𝑥 4 𝑥 3 𝑥 2 𝑥 1 = 720

B. (6 – 2)! = 4! = 4 𝑥 3 𝑥 2 𝑥 1 = 24
C. = = =
35
 Solve for x
x = 8!
x = (8) (7) (6) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1)
x = 40,320

 
3𝑥 =
3x =
3x =
3x = 12
x=4
 x + 3! = 6!
x = 6! − 3!
𝑥 = {(6) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1)} − {(3) (2) (1)}
x = 720 − 6
𝒙 = 𝟕𝟏𝟒
Evaluate each Factorial notation
•  
1) 8! 40 320
__________
2) 3 628 800
(9 + 1)! __________
3) 6! (5 – 2)! __________
4 320
4) 4! + 5! __________
144
5) __________
56
 Solve for the value of x.
•1)  x
= 9! 362 880
__________
2) 7! = x + 2! 5 038
__________
3) 𝑥 4! = 6! 30
__________
5 160
4) x – (9 – 4)! = 7! __________
5) 2𝑥 = __________28