Counting Principles and

Probability

Adriell Afable 11 - Salvation

The Fundamental Counting Principle states that
if one event can occur m ways and a second event
can occur n ways, the number of ways the two
events can occur in sequence is m • n.

Start
1st Coin
Tossed
Heads Tails 2 ways to flip the coin.
2nd Coin
Tossed
Heads Tails Heads Tails 2 ways to flip the coin.

There are 2  2 different outcomes: {HH, HT, TH, TT}.

2
Example: A meal consists of a main dish, a side
dish, and a dessert. How many different meals can
be selected if there are 4 main dishes, 2 side dishes
and 5 desserts available?

# of # of # of
main dishes side dishes desserts

4  2  5 = 40

There are 40 meals available.

3
A permutation is an ordered arrangement of n
different elements.
How many permutations are possible using the three
colors red, white, and blue?
There are 3 choices for the first color, 2 choices for the
second color and only 1 choice for the third color.

3! = 3 • 2 • 1
= 6 permutations

“factorial”

4
A permutation of n elements taken r at a time is
a subset of the collection of elements where order is
important.
Five projects are entered in a science contest. In
how many ways can the projects come in first,
second, and third?

1st 2nd 3rd 3 projects

5 x __
__ 4 x __
3
5 projects
4 projects

5 • 4 • 3 = 60 ways

5
The formula for the number of permutations of n
elements taken r at a time is
P  n! .
n r (n  r)!
# in the
collection
# taken
from the
collection

P  P  5!  5  4  3  2 1  60
n r 5 3
2! 2 1

6
If some of the items are identical, distinguishable
permutations must be used.

In how many distinguishable ways can the letters

STATS be written?

STATS

S’s are not distinguishable.

The T’s

Example continues.
7
The number of distinguishable permutations of
the n objects is
n!
n1!  n2 !  n3 !  nk !
where n = n1 + n2 + n3 + . . . + nk.

The letters STATS can be written in

5!  120  30 ways.
2!  2! 1! 4
S’s T’s A’s

8
A combination of n elements taken r at a time is
a subset of the collection of elements where order is
not important.
Using the letters A, B, C, and D, find all the
possible combinations using two of the letters.
{AB} This is the same as {BA}.
{AC}
{AD} There are six different
{BC} combinations using 2 of
the 4 letters.
{BD}
{CD}
9
The formula for the number of combinations of n
elements taken r at a time is
C  n! .
n r (n  r)! r !
# in the
collection
# taken
from the
collection

C  C  4!  4  3  2 1  6
n r 4 2
2!2! 2 1  2 1

10
Example: How many different ways are there to
choose 6 out of 10 books if the order does not
matter?

3
C  C  10!  10  9  8  7  6!  210
n r 10 6
4!6! 4  3  2 1 6!

There are 210 ways to choose the 6 books.

11
Graphing Utility: Permutation

5 P3

Graphing Utility: Combination

10 C6

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 Thank You!!
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