Counting

Fundamental Counting Principle

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"If there are r ways to do one thing, and s ways to do another, and t
ways to do a third thing, and so on ..., then the number of ways of
doing all those things at once is r x s x t x ..."

Question: You go a restaurant to get some breakfast. The menu says

pancakes, waffles, or home fries. And for drink, coffee, juice, hot
chocolate, and tea. How many different choices of food and drink do
you have?

Answer: There 3 choices for food and 4 choices for drink.

Thus, you have a total of 3 × 4 = 12 choices.
 Counting
Question: An Italian restaurant has a choice of 4 starters,
. 5 main
courses and 3 desserts on it's menu. How many different orders of 1
starter, 1 main course and 1 dessert can be made?

Answer: Total possible orders = Starters x Mains x Desserts

=4x5x3
= 60

In this example the choices of starter, main and dessert were entirely
independent. I.e. the main you chose didn't make any difference to
which dessert you could choose and visa versa. However there are
situations where these choices are not entirely independent and this is
where permutations and combinations come in.
 Permutations
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One of the most used examples of a permutation is the number of
ways to arrange a batting order for a team. The team has 11 players,
each of which go up and bat before repeating the order.

How many different ways can you organize 11 players in an order?

For the first position, there would be 11 options

for the second position 10 options
for the third 9, and so on
until for the 11th position there would be only one option (since no
player can go twice before all of the players have gone).

Hence, the number of positions would be

11 x 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 39,916,800
11 x 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 is also called 11! (Factorial
11).
 Permutations
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Permutations where the entire set isn't used

Most of the time, unlike in the batting example, you will be selecting a
few objects out of the set, not every object. The number of objects
you take is called r. The size of the set is n. It is expressed as P(n,r),

So for example choosing the first, second and third places out of a
field of 11 players would be expressed as P(11,3), since there are 11
objects and 3 are being selected.

To solve these, we use the formula:

P(n,r) = n!/(n-r)!
P(11,3) = 11!/(11-3)! = 11!/8! = 11 x 10 x 9 = 990
So, there are 990 ways to choose 1st 2nd and 3rd place out of 11
players.

Remember: A permutation is the number of ways objects can be

ordered in a set. Order DOES matter.
 Combinations
Unlike a permutation, in a combination the order of the. objects
selected does not matter.

For example, if you were choosing a team of three students from a

class of ten, the order you said “Ram, Peter, Sachin" would not matter
to who is in the group- saying “Peter, Sachin, Ram" instead doesn't
change anything.

The number of ways you can make a combination of r objects out of a

set of n objects is made from the formula below:
C(n,r) = n!/{r!(n-r)!}

Question: Out of a class of ten students, how many ways could you
make a team of three students?

Answer: We know n is ten because the set (the students) has ten
objects in it. We know r is 3 because the team will have three students
on it. To solve, we use the combinations equation.
C(10,3) = 10!/{3!(10-3)!} = 120
So, there are 120 ways to pick a team of 3 people out of ten.
 Permutations & Combinations
1. In how many different ways can the letters of the word
. SOME be
arranged.

2. Find the number of ways to arrange the three letters in the word
CAT in different two-letter groups where CA is different from AC and
there are no repeated letters.

3. Find the number of combinations of size 2 without repeated letters

that can be made from the three letters in the word CAT, order doesn't
matter; AT is the same as TA.

4. Using the digits 4, 5, 6, and 7, how many two-digit numbers can be

formed a. without repetition? b. with repetition?

5. Using the digits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, how many five-digit

numbers can be formed a. without repetition? b. with repetition?

6. Using the digits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, how many four-digit odd

numbers can be formed without repetition?
 Permutations & Combinations
7. On each trip, a salesman visits 4 of the 12 cities in his
. territory. In
how many can he choose which 4 cities to visit on a trip?

8. From six men and five women, find the number of groups of four
that can be formed consisting of two men and two women.

9. In how many ways can the 18 members of a boy scout troop elect a
president, a vice-president, and a secretary, assuming that no
member can hold more than one office?

10. How many different ways can 2 red, 3 blue and 4 yellow bulbs be
arranged on a string of Christmas tree lights with 9 sockets?

11. How many car tags can be made if the first three positions are
letters and the last three positions are numbers
a. without repetition?
b. with repetition?

12. In the IPL, league matches involved 10 teams. Each team played
the other team twice. How many total matches were played in the
league.
 Permutations & Combinations
13. A polygon has 44 diagonals. What are the no. of sides
. of the
polygon.

14. How many 10 digit numbers can be formed using 3 and 7 only?

15. Everyone shakes hands with everyone else in a room. Total

number of handshakes is 66. Number of persons=?
 Probability
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Probability is a measure of how likely a particular outcome to an event
is to happen.

It ranges from 0 to 1. A probability of 0 means that the outcome

cannot happen. A probability of 1 means that the outcome will
definitely happen. And in between 0 and 1 means that the outcome
may happen.

Question: When a coin is tossed the outcome (or event) can be heads
or tails. What is the probability it is tails?

Answer: Since each outcome, heads or tails, is equally likely we can

say that the probability of each is 0.5.
P (coin toss is tails) = ½

Basic rule of probability

Where there are n equally likely outcomes then the probability of each
of these possibilities will be 1/n.

P(Outcome) = Number of ways desired outcome can happen / Total

number of possible outcomes
 Probability
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Question: If you pick a card at random from a deck of cards what is
the probability that it is an ace?

Answer: There are 52 cards in a pack and of those there are 4 aces.
So, P (an ace) = 4/52 = 1/13

‘And’ probabilities
The probability two outcomes for independent events both occur can
be found by multiplying their probabilities.

Independent Event
By independent we mean that the first event does not affect the
probability of the second event.

P (A and B) = P(A) x P(B)

Example: Coin tosses are independent. They cannot affect each

other's probabilities; the probability of each toss is independent of a
previous toss and will always be 1/2.
 Probability
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Dependent Event
An example of a dependent event, one in which the probability of the
second event is affected by the first, is drawing a card from a deck but
not returning it.

By not returning the card, you've decreased the number of cards in

the deck by 1, and you've decreased the number of whatever kind of
card you drew. If you draw an ace of spades, there are 1 fewer aces
and 1 fewer spades. This affects our simple probability: (number of
favorable outcomes)/ (total number of outcomes). This type of
probability is formulated as follows:

If A and B are not independent, then the probability of A and B is

P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B|A)

where P(B|A) is the conditional probability of B given A.

 Probability
.

Example of Dependent probability:

Question: If there are 30 red and blue marbles in a jar, and the ratio
of red to blue marbles is 2:3, what is the probability that, drawing
twice, you will select two red marbles if you do not return the marbles
after each draw?

Answer: Red marbles = (2/5)*30 = 12

Blue marbles = (3/5)*30 = 18

The probability of drawing a red marble on the first draw remains the
same, 12/30. The second draw, however, is different. The initial
conditions have been altered by the first draw. We now have only 29
marbles in the jar and only 11 red. We simply use those numbers to
figure our new probability of drawing a red marble the second time,
11/29. The events are dependent and the total probability is
P(A and B) = P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B|A)
= 12/30 × 11/29 = 132/870 = 22/145.
 Probability
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Question: What is the probability of throwing two heads in a row when
tossing a coin?

Answer: This is the same as asking what the probability that the first
coin tossed will be head AND the second coin tossed will be a head.
P (two heads) = P(first is head) x P(second is head)
=½x½
=¼
So the probability that of tossing two heads in a row is ¼
 Probability
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Question: A jar contains 2 red balls and 4 green balls. What is the
probability that two balls selected at random from the jar are both
green?

Answer: Each ball is equally likely to be selected from the jar so we

can work out the probability of the first ball selected being green.
P (first ball is green) = Number of green balls/Total No. of balls
= 4/6
Once we have taken 1 green ball out of the jar, the jar contains only 3
green balls and 2 red balls so:
P (second ball is green) = No. of green balls remaining / Total
no. of balls remaning
= 3/5
So, P (both green) = P(first is green) x P(second is green)
= 4/6 x 3/5
= 2/5
So the probability that of picking out two green balls is 2/5
 Probability
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‘or’ probabilities

The probability that one or other of two exclusive outcomes occurring

can be found be adding their individual probabilities.
P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B)

Question: What is the probability that when a 6 sided die is thrown

that the result is prime.

Answer: The prime numbers in the range 1–6 are 2, 3 and 5, so:
P (Die roll is prime) = P(2) + P(3) + P(5)
= 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6
=½
 Probability
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Question: A jar contains 2 red balls and 4 green balls. If two balls are
selected at random then what is the probability that they are the same
color?

Answer: The probability that both balls selected are the same color is
the probability that they are both red Or that they are both green.
P (two are same color) = P (Two red) + P(two green)

We already know from previous example that the probability that both
are green is 2/5
Further, probability that both are red = P(first is red) x P(second is
red) = 2/6 x 1/5
= 1/15

So, P (two are same color) = 1/15 + 2/5

= 7/15

So the probability that both balls picked out are the same color is 7/15
 Probability
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If an OR problem features events that can occur together, then use
the following formula:
P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A and B)

The logic behind this formula is that when P(A) and P (B) are added,
the occasions on which A and B both occur are counted twice. To
adjust for this, P (A and B) is subtracted.

Question: A fair die is rolled once and a fair coin is flipped once. What
is the probability that either the die will land on 3 or that coin will land
on heads.

Answer: P (die will land on 3) = 1/6

P (coin will land on heads) = ½
So, P(the die will land on 3 or that coin will land on heads) = 1/6 + ½
- (1/6)*(1/2) = 7/12
 Probability
1. Two dice are rolled. Find the probability that the sum. is equal to 5.

2. Sam is playing a game that requires him to roll a fair die repeatedly
until he rolls a 1, at which point he must stop rolling the die. What is
the probability that Sam will roll the die less than four times before
stopping.

3.If a fair coin is tossed three times, what is the probability that it will
turn up heads exactly twice.

4. A fair dice is rolled once and a fair coin is flipped once. What is the
probability that either the dice will land on 3 or that coin will land on
heads.

5. Urn 1 contains 4 white balls and 3 black balls, and Urn 2 contains 1
white ball and 2 black balls. A man selects one ball from one of the
vases. He chooses randomly. What is the probability that he will select
a white ball?

6. An unbiased die is thrown 6 times. What is the probability that the

numbers will have a product which is an even number.
 Probability
7. Ray plays a game involving throw of 2 unbiased dice where the
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person throwing a total of 7 or 11 is the winner. What is the
probability of Ray winning the game.

8. At a car park there are 100 vehicles, 60 of which are cars, 30 are
vans and the remainder are lorries. If every vehicle is equally likely to
leave, find the probability of car leaving second if either a lorry or van
had left first.

9. A survey was taken on 30 classes at a school to find the total

number of left-handed students in each class. The table below shows
the results:

A class was selected at random.

a) What is the probability that the class has at least 3 left-handed
students?
b) Given that the total number of students in the 30 classes is 960,
find the probability that a student randomly chosen from these 30
classes is left-handed.
 Probability
10. What is the probability that the total of two dice will. be greater
than 8 given that the first die is a 6?

11. What is the probability that a card selected from a deck will be
either an ace or a spade?

12. If you draw two cards from a deck, what is the probability that you
will get the Ace of Diamonds and a black card?

13. If a number is selected from 10000 to 99999 inclusive, what is the

probability of getting a number that contains four digits of '5'?

14. If a committee of 4 is to be chosen out of 8 people, what is the

probability that Jack and Jill are not together on the committee.