Principles of counting.

The fundamental principles of counting states that

“ if the first event can be done in any of n1 ways, and
if this event has happened, the second event can be
done in n2 ways, then the total number of ways in
which both events can be done is n1x n2 different
ways. By formula we have:

no. of ways = n1x n2

if it is multiple events then,

no. of ways = n1x n2x n3x n4...x nk

Example 1.
How many ways can the position of class President,
Vice President and Secretary be fill up if there are 3 ,
4 and 3 candidates respectively?

Solution:
let n1 = candidate for Pres = 3
n2= candidate for VP = 4
n3= candidate for Sec = 3
# of ways = n1 x n2 x n3 = 3x4x3
# of ways = 36 ways
Example 2.
How many ways can 8 persons be seated on a chair if
there are only 4 chairs available?

Solution:
let n1= chair1=8 (any of the eight can take chair1)
n2= chair2=7 ( any of the remaining 7
can take chair2)
n3= chair3=6 (any of the remaining 6
can take chair3)
n4= chair4=5 (any of the remaining 5
can take chair 4)
# of ways = n1 x n2 x n3 x n4
=8x7x6x5
# of ways = 1,680 ways

Example 3.
How many 3 digits numbers can be formed from the
given numerals 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 if repeatition is not
allowed?

Solution:
since it is 3 digits thus we have n1n2n3
let n1 = the hundred's place
n2 = ten's place
n3 = one's or unit place
there are 5 given numbers which are 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Any
of these 5 numbers can take the place of n1. Since
repeatition is not allowed there are 4 remaining
numbers which can be used to take the place of n2.
Again no repeatition, there are still 3 remaining
numbers that can take the place of n3. Therefore the
number of ways can be computed as;
n1 = 5
n2 = 4
n3 = 3
# of 3 digits = n1 x n2 x n3 = 5 x 4 x 3
= 60

Further explanation.
The 5 given numerals ( 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) can take the
place of n1, example we will use 7 for n1 since no
repeatition there are still 4 numerals left (5,6,8,9) that
can be use for n2. Let say we will use 9 for n2. Again
no repeatition, there are still 3 numerals left (5,6,8)
that can be use for n3. Let say we take 5 for n3 so we
have formed 1 example of 3 digits number 795,
this is one of the 60 3-digits number that can be
formed.

Example 4
Assuming repeatition is allowed, how many 3 digits
numbers can be formed in the given numerals in
example 3 above?
Solution: since it is 3 digits thus we have n1 n2 n3
and the 5 given numerals can take place of n1 , n2
and n3 .

Let n1 = 5
n2 = 5 ( all 5 numerals can be repeatedly use)
n3 = 5 ( all 5 numerals can be repeatedly use).
# of 3 digits = n1 x n2 x n3 = 5 x 5 x 5
= 125

Further explanation:
In example 3 we formed one of the 60 3-digits
number which is 795 for non repeatition. If
repeatition is allowed then let say n1 will take
numeral 8 and n2 will also take numeral 8 and same
with n3 thus we formed one of the 125 3-digits which
is 888. Thus the 3-digits 888 and 795 are just two of
125 ways that can be formed if repeatition of digits is
allowed.