Digital Lesson

Counting Principles
and Probability
 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}.

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 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.

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Example: Two-digit numbers are formed from the
digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

a. How many two-digit numbers can be formed?

b. How many of these are even?
c. How many of these are odd?
d. How many of these are less than 50?
e. How many of these are greater than 49 but less
than 70?
Example: Two-digit numbers are formed from the
digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

a. How many two-digit numbers can be formed?

SOLUTION:
The 1st digit is a non-zero digit. The 2nd digit
has no restriction.

1st digit 2nd digit

9 options 10 options
(9) (10) = 90 two-digit numbers
Example: Two-digit numbers are formed from the
digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

b. How many of these are even?

SOLUTION:
The last digit of an even number is either 0,
2, 4, 6, or 8. The 1st digit is a non-zero digit.

1st digit 2nd digit

9 options 5 options
(9) (5) = 45 two-digit even numbers
Example: Two-digit numbers are formed from the
digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

c. How many of these are odd?

SOLUTION:
The last digit of an odd number is either 1, 3,
5, 7, or 9. The 1st digit is a non-zero digit.

1st digit 2nd digit

9 options 5 options
(9) (5) = 45 two-digit odd numbers
Example: Two-digit numbers are formed from the
digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

d. How many of these are less than 50?

SOLUTION:
The 1st digit of two-digit numbers that are
less than 50 is either 1, 2, 3, or 4. The 2nd digit has
no restriction.
1st digit 2nd digit
4 options 10 options
(4) (10) = 40 two-digit numbers less than 50
 Example: Two-digit numbers are formed from the
digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
e. How many of these are greater than 49 but less
than 70?
SOLUTION:
The 1st digit of two-digit numbers that are
greater than 49 but less than 70 is either 5 or 6. The
2nd digit has no restriction.
1st digit 2nd digit
2 options 10 options

(2) (10) = 20 two-digit numbers greater than 49 but less than 70

Example: A cell phone service provider offers two free
smart phone apps. If there are 24 different apps to
choose from, how many different combinations of two
apps can a client have?

SOLUTION:
The two independent events are: choosing the 1st
app from the 24 options, and choosing the 2nd app from
the 23 options left after the 1st selection is made.
1st app 2nd app
24 options 23 options

(24) (23) = 552 combinations

 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”

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 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

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 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

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 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.
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 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

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 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}
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 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

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 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.

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 Graphing Utility: Permutation

5 P3

Graphing Utility: Combination

10 C6

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