BASIC Counting principles

P Vanchinathan

July 22, 2011

P Vanchinathan ()

Basic Counting

July 22, 2011

1/5

Product Rule for Counting If a procedure involves two independent steps, and if there are m ways of doing the rst step and n ways for the second step, then there are totally m n ways for the whole procedure. This rule is also applicable when there are more than two steps. Example 1 Counting 4-digit numbers that are multiples of 5. This is a 4-step process, constructing one digit in each step. The leftmost digit: any one from 1 to 9 The next 2 digits: any one from 0 to 9. The last digit (rightmost): 0 or 5, So the answer is 9 10 10 2 = 1800.

9 ways for STEP 1. 10 ways for STEPS 2& 3.

2 ways for STEP 4.

P Vanchinathan ()

Basic Counting

July 22, 2011

2/5

Example 2 Counting Number of Passwords. Conditions on the passwords Password should be 3-character length. Should use alphabets (small and capital are dierent), numerals 0 to 9 and underscore, (totally 63 characters). First character should be an alphabet At least one character should be a digit or an underscore Use another principle of counting: Sum rule: when there are many types which exclude each other then add the number of possibilities from each type.

P Vanchinathan ()

Basic Counting

July 22, 2011

3/5

Type 1 password: Second character is an alphabet Type 2 password: Second character is a digit or an underscore. Counting Type 1: First step 52 ways (small and capital letters). Same for second step. Third step avoids alphabets: 11 ways. So 52 52 11 = 29744 ways Counting Type 2: First step 52 ways. Second step 11 ways. Third step 63 ways. So 52 11 63 = 36036 Sum rule is applicable ( type 1 and type 2 are mutually exclusive). So totally 29744 + 36036 = 65780 passwords are possible.

P Vanchinathan ()

Basic Counting

July 22, 2011

4/5

Exercise

Count the number of passwords possible with same conditions but one dierence: length should be from 6 to 9 characters.

P Vanchinathan ()

Basic Counting

July 22, 2011

5/5