Counting Methods

Counting principle, permutations, combinations, probabilities

Part 1: The Fundamental Counting Principle
The Fundamental Counting Principle is the idea that if we have a ways of doing something
and b ways of doing another thing, then there are ab ways of performing both actions.
Ex: When you decide to order pizza, you must first choose the type of crust: thin or deep dish (2
choices). Next, you choose the topping: cheese, pepperoni, or sausage (3 choices).
Using the rule of product, you know that there are 2 3 =6 possible combinations of ordering a
pizza.
The tree diagram may be useful in working with the counting principle.
Ex: If a coin is tossed and the number cube is rolled simultaneously then the tree diagram can be
the following:

We see that the total number of possibilities is 2 6 = 12.
The number of ways in which a series of successive things can occur is found by multiplying
the number of ways in which each thing can occur.
Ex: The number of possible outfits from 2 pairs of jeans, 3 T-shirts and 2 pairs of sneakers are:
2 S 2 =12

Ex: Next semester, you are planning to take three courses math, English and humanities. There
are 10 sections of math, 8 of English, and 5 of humanities that you find suitable. Assuming no
scheduling conflicts, how many different three-course schedules are possible?
There are 1085 =400 different three-course schedules.

Ex: You are taking a multiple-choice test that has eight questions. Each of the questions has four
answer choices, with one correct answer per question. If you select one of these four choices for
each question and leave nothing blank, in how many ways can you answer the questions?
The number of different ways you can answer the questions is:
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 =4
8
=65,536.

Ex: Telephone numbers in the United States begin with three- digit area codes followed by
seven-digit local telephone numbers. Area codes and local telephone numbers cannot begin with
0 or 1. How many different telephone numbers are possible?
This situation involves making choices with ten groups of items. Here are the choices for each
of the ten groups of items:
Area Code Local Telephone Number
8 10 10 8 10 10 10 10 10 10
The total number of different telephone numbers is:
8 10 10 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 =6,400,000,000






Part 2: Permutations
Permutation is an ordered arrangement of items that occurs when:
No item is used more than once.
The order of arrangement makes a difference.

Ex: There are six permutations of the set {1,2,3}, namely (1,2,3), (1,3,2), (2,1,3), (2,3,1), (3,1,2),
and (3,2,1).

If n is a positive integer, the notation n! (read n factorial) is the product of all positive integers
from n down through 1.
n! =n(n 1)(n 2)(3)(2)(1)
0! (zero factorial), by definition, is 1:
0! =1

Ex: You need to arrange eight of your favorite books along a small shelf. How many different
ways can you arrange the books, assuming that the order of the books makes a difference to you?
You can choose any one of the eight books for the first position on the shelf. This leaves seven
choices for the second position. After the first two positions are filled, there are six books to
choose and so on.
8 7 6 S 4 S 2 1 = 8! = 4u,S2u.

If n is a positive integer, then (n +1)! = n! (n +1).

Ex: a.
25!
24!
=
24!25
24!
= 2S.
b.
10!
7!
=
7!8910
7!
= 8 9 1u = 72u.

If we have a set of n objects and we want to select r of them and arrange them in order, the total
number of possibilities is
P
n
=
n!
(n -r)!
,
and is called the number of possible permutations of r items are taken from n items.

Ex: From a class of 20 students we need to select 3 for a committee, one to be president, another
one to be vice-president and the third one to be secretary.
In this case n =20, and r =3. The order is important, so we apply the formula
P
20 3
=
2u!
(2u -S)!
=
17! 18 19 2u
17!
= 18 19 2u = 684u.

Permutations of duplicate items: the number of permutations of n items, where n
1
items are
identical, n
2
items are identical, n
3
items are identical, and so on, is given by:
n!
n
1
! n
2
! n
3
!
.

Ex: In how many distinct ways can the letters of the word MISSISSIPPI be arranged?
The word contains 11 letters (n =11) where four Is are identical (n
1
=4), four Ss are identical
(n
2
=4) and 2 Ps are identical (n
3
=2). he number of distinct permutations is:
11!
4! 4! 2!
=
4! S 6 7 8 9 1u 11
4! 1 2 S 4 1 2
= S4,6Su.



Part 3: Combinations

A combination is a way of selecting several things out of a larger group, where (unlike
permutations) order does not matter.
A combination of items occurs when
The items are selected from the same group.
No item is used more than once.
The order of items makes no difference.
Remarks: Permutation problems involve situations in which order matters.
Combination problems involve situations in which the order of items makes no
difference.

The number of possible combinations if r items are taken from n items is:
C
n
=
n!
r! (n -r)!
.

Remark: C
n
< P
n
, for any r > 0.

Ex: From a class of 20 students we need to select 3 for a committee.
In this case n =20, and r =3. The order is not important, so we apply the formula
C
20 3
=
2u!
S! (2u -S)!
=
17! 18 19 2u
1 2 S 17!
= 1,14u.

Part 4: Basics of Probability
Probability is used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we
are not certain.
The basic concepts related to probability are:
Experiment is any occurrence for which the outcome is uncertain.
Sample space is the set of all possible outcomes of an experiment , denoted by S.
Event, denoted by E is any subset of a sample space.
Sum of the theoretical probabilities of all possible outcomes is 1.

If an event E has n(E) equally likely outcomes and its sample space S has n(S) equally-likely
outcomes, the theoretical probability of event E, denoted by P(E), is:
P(E) =
numbcr o o:oroblc oucomcs
totol numbcr o outcomcs
=
n(E)
n(S)
.

The value of the probability can be expressed as a ratio, as a decimal number or as percent. In a
number format, always u P(E) 1 and in percent format always u% P(E) 1uu%.
Remarks: Probabilities are assigned values from 0 to 1.
The closer the probability of a given event is to 1, the more likely it is that the
event will occur.
The closer the probability of a given event is to 0, the less likely that the event
will occur.


Ex: What is the probability to find a family with 2 boys among the all families having three
children?
If we denote B =boy and G =girls, then the sample space for this experiment S will be S =
{BBB, BBG, BGB, GBB, BGG, GBG, GGB, GGG}, where BGB means that the first child is
boy, the second is girl and the third is boy. It follows that n(S) =8 (the total number of
outcomes).
The event E is to find a family with two boys, so that E ={BBG, BGB, GBB} and n(E) =3.
Based on the probability formula, we can conclude that the chance to find/select families with
exactly two boys among the set of all families with three children is:
P(E) =
S
8
= u.S7S = S7.S%.


Part 5: Probability with the Fundamental Counting Principle, Permutations, and
Combinations

Ex: A lottery game, LOTTOPLUS, is set up so that each player chooses seven different numbers
from 1 to 58. With one LOTTOPLUS ticket, what is the probability of winning the prize?
Because the order of the seven numbers does not matter, this situation involves combinations:
P(winning) =
numbcr o woys o winning
totol numbcr o possiblc combinotions
.
We have that the number of ways of winning is 1 (one ticket) and the total number of possible
combinations is given by:
C
58 7
=
S8!
7! (S8 -7)!
=
S1! S2 SS S4 SS S6 S7 S8
1 2 S 4 S 6 7 S1!
= Suu,674,u88.
The probability to win the price is:
P(winning) =
1
Suu,674,u88
= u.uuuuuuuuSS26 = u.uuuuuuSS26%.

Ex: Two cards are drawn at random from a standard deck of 52 cards, without replacement.
What is the probability that both cards drawn are queens?
P(E) =
tbc woy to Jrow 2 corJs out o possiblc 4 quccns
tbc woy to Jrow 2 corJs rom o Jcck o S2
=
P
4 2
P
52 2
=
12
26S2
=
1
221
= u.uu4S = u.4S%.