Fundamental Counting Principle Examples.

Fundamental counting principle: Sample problem #1

A fast-food restaurant has a meal special: $5 for a drink, sandwich, side item and dessert. The choices
are:

 Sandwich: Grilled chicken, All Beef Patty, Vegeburger and Fish Filet.
 Side: Regular fries, Cheese Fries, Potato Wedges.
 Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookie or Apple Pie.
 Drink: Fanta, Dr. Pepper, Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite.
Q. How many meal combos are possible?
A. There are 4 stages:

1. Choose a sandwich.
2. Choose a side.
3. Choose a dessert.
4. Choose a drink.
There are 4 different types of sandwich, 3 different types of side, 2 different types of desserts and five
different types of drink.

The number of meal combos possible is 4 * 3 * 2 * 5 = 120.

Fundamental counting principle: Sample problem #2.

Q. You take a survey with five “yes” or “no” answers. How many different ways could you complete the
survey?

A. There are 5 stages: Question 1, question 2, question 3, question 4, and question 5.

There are 2 choices for each question (Yes or No).
So the total number of possible ways to answer is:
2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 32.

Fundamental counting principle: Sample problem #3.

Q: A company puts a code on each different product they sell. The code is made up of 3 numbers and 2
letters. How many different codes are possible?
A. There are 5 stages (number 1, number 2, number 3, letter 1 and letter 2).
There are 10 possible numbers: 0 – 9.
There are 26 possible letters: A – Z.
So we have:
10 * 10 * 10 * 26 * 26 = 676000 possible codes.