COUNTING

TECHNIQUES
Sir Jelz
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
1. Multiplication Rule
2. Permutation
a. n distinct objects
b. n distinct objects taken r at a time
c. Circular permutation
3. Combination
MULTIPLICATION RULE
PERMUTATION
- an arrangement of all or part of a set of
objects
- position or order is important!

a. n distinct objects
- The number of permutations of n distinct object is n!

Example:
1. Consider the three letters: a,b, and c. How many
possible arrangement when the order is important?
Ans: 6
2 . Four letters: w,x,y, and z?
Ans: 24
b. n distinct objects taken r at a time
- the number of permutations of n distinct objects r a
𝑛!
𝑛 𝑃𝑟 =
𝑛−𝑟 !

Example:
1. Three letters a,b, and c. How many possible permutatio
letters are taken at a time?
2. Four letters, w, x, y, and z.
c. Circular permutations
- permutations that occur by arranging objects in a c
- the no. of permutations of n distinct objects arrang
𝑃𝑐 = 𝑛 − 1 !
d. The number of distinct permutations of n things of
which 𝑛1 are one of a kind, 𝑛2 of a second kind, …, 𝑛𝑘 of
a kth kind is

𝑛!
𝑃=
𝑛1 ! 𝑛2 ! … 𝑛𝑘 !
Example:
1. In the word MISSISSIPPI, how many different
permutations can be made?
2. In a college football training session, the defensive
coordinator needs to have 10 players standing in a
row. Among these 10 players, there are 1 freshman,
2 sophomore, 4 juniors, and 3 seniors, respectively.
How many different ways can they be arranged in a
row if only their class level will be distinguished?
COMBINATIONS
-arrangement of objects without regard to
order (order is not important).
- the number of combinations of n distinct
objects taken r at a time is
𝑛 𝑛!
𝑛 𝐶𝑟 = 𝑟 =
𝑟! 𝑛 − 𝑟 !
Example:
1. Three letters a,b, and c. How many possible
arrangements when 2 letters are taken at a
time and the order is not important?
2. Four letters, w, x, y, and z.
 PROBABILITY AND PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
Random Experiment
- is an experiment in which
a. all outcomes of the experiment are known in advance
b. any performance of the experiment results in an outcome
that is unknown
c. the experiment can be repeated under identical condition.

Sample Space
- a set or collection of all possible outcomes of a random
experiment
-it may be finite or infinite
-elements of the sample space are referred to as
sample points.
Event
-a subset of the sample space
- It may either be simple or compound
- observing an element of an event indicates the
occurrence of the event

Probability
- a numerical value ranging from 0 to 1 that
measures the likelihood of an event occurring
*Approaches to assigning probability
1. A priori approach or the classical probability
2. A posteriori approach or the relative frequency
probability
3. Subjective approach
PROPERTIES OF P[E]
1. The probability value ranges from 0 to 1,
1
2. For a random experiment with sample sp
𝑃 𝑆 =1
3. If 𝐸1 , 𝐸2 , … , 𝐸𝑛 are mutually disjoint event
then
𝑃 𝐸1 ∪ 𝐸2 ∪ ⋯ ∪ 𝐸𝑛 = 𝑃[𝐸1 ] + 𝑃 𝐸2 + ⋯

Special type of events:

Given the probability of an event E, P[E
A PRIORI OR THE CLASSICAL PROBABILITY
(EQUAL-LIKELY SAMPLE SPACE)
A POSTERIORI OR RELATIVE
FREQUENCY APPROACH
SUBJECTIVE APPROACH
 Uses one’s personal judgement and knowledge in
assessing how likely an event will occur.
EVENT RELATIONS
OPERATIONS ON PROBABILITY
EXAMPLES
1. In a group of 100 sports car buyers, 40 bought
alarm systems, 30 purchased bucket seats, and
20 purchased an alarm system and bucket
seats. If a car buyer chosen at random bought
an alarm system, what is the probability they
also bought bucket seats?
(What operation of probability is needed?)
Whe need?
Conditional Probability
2.