Math 425 Lecture 1 9/2/2014 7:05:00 AM

Basic Principle of Counting (Sec 1.2)

Suppose two experiments are to be performed, each one is a
series of choices.
o First experiment has m possible outcomes
o Irrespective of first outcome, second has n possible outcomes
o Total outcomes = m*n
o Example 2a
Small Community consisting of 10 women each of
whom has 3 children. One woman and one of her
children are to be chosen as mother child of the year.
How many choices?
10 * 3 = 30
Generalized basic principle of counting
o r experiments
1
st
results in n
1
possible outcomes
2
nd
results in n
2
possible outcomes
r experiment has n
r
possible outcomes
o Example 2c
How many 7-place license plates possible if first three
paces have to be letters and last four have to be
numbers?
(26)^3 * (10)^4 = 175,760,00
o Example 2e
How many 7-place license plates possible if first three
paces have to be letters and last four have to be
numbers and no repetitions among numbers or letters?
Ex 1 = 26
Ex 2 = 25
Ex 3 = 24
Ex 4 = 10
Ex 5 = 9
Ex 6 = 8
Ex 7 = 7
26*25*24*10*9*8*7 = 78,624,000

Permutations of objects (Sec 1.3)
Permutations are arrangements of objects
o Ex. There are 6 permutations of A, B, C
ABC
BCA
CAB
ACB
BAC
CBA
n! = n * n-1 * n-2 * 3 * 2 * 1
There are exactly n! permutations of n distinct objects
Example 3b
o A class in prob theory consists of 6 men and 4 women. An
exam is given and students re ranked according to their
performance (assume all students get unique scores).
o a) How many different rankings are possible?
10!
o b) If men and women are ranked amongst themselves, how
many different rankings are possible?
6! * 4!
Example 3d
o How many different letter arrangements can be formed from
the letters PEPPER?
6! / (3! * 2!)
9/2/2014 7:05:00 AM

9/2/2014 7:05:00 AM