THE FUNDAMENTAL COUNTING PRINCIPLE

Consider the situation where you flip a coin and then roll a die. There are 12 possible outcomes in
this situation:
H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6
T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6
The coin has only 2 possible outcomes and the die has only 6 possible outcomes.
 2 × 6 = 12 total possible outcomes.
This shortcut is called The fundamental Counting Principle.

RULE 1: If one operation can be done in m ways and the second operation can be done
in n ways then the total possible number of different ways in which both
operations can be done is m × n

EXAMPLE 1:
A meal can be made up as follows:
Choice 1: meat, fish or chicken
Choice 2: mash, chips, baked potato, rice or vegetables

How many different meals can be made up using these choices? _______________

Check: Using a Two-Way Table:

EXAMPLE 2:
A gift pack can be made up as follows:
Choice 1: Choose one CD out of a possible 4 different CD’s
Choice 2: Choose one packet of chips out of a possible 5 different types
Choice 3: Choose one type of chocolate out of a possible 12 different types
Choice 4: Choose one type of fruit out of a possible 3 different types

How many different gift packs can be made?

_________________________________________
EXAMPLE 3:

Combined Options

Individual Options
Number Possible

Number as a
Restaurant Menu Tree Diagram illustrating

product of
Options Number of Combined Options

1 Starter
1 Mains
1 Dessert

2 Starter
2 Mains
2 Desserts

2 Starters
3 Mains
4 Desserts

5 Starters
9 Mains
6 Desserts

M Starters
N Mains
P Desserts
Arranging unique items where order is important
EXAMPLE 4:
Consider the word PARKTOWN. You are required to form different eight-letter word arrangements
using the letters of the word PARKTOWN. An example of a word arrangement would be the word
APKROTWN. This arrangement of the letters need not make any sense. How many possible word
arrangements can be made if:
(a) the letter may be repeated?
(b) the letters may not be repeated?

(a)

(b)

FACTORIAL NOTATION
The product 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 can be written as 6! And this is read as “six factorial”. In other
words:
5! = 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1
9! = 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1
n! = n(n–1)(n-2)(n-3)…………… 3 x 2 x 1
Also: 0! = 1 and 1! = 1
Calculate: (a) 7! (Check your answer using the factorial button on your calculator)

_____________________________________________

(b) 11! ________________

(c) 0! _______ (d) –4! _________ (e)(–4)! ___________

EXAMPLE 5:
Assuming that any combination of letters forms a word,
how many “words” can be formed with:
Word Working and number of possible Possible Possible
arrangements (give the “words”) number number
arrangements arrangements
as a product as a factorial
SIP

SIPH

SIPHO

SIPHOK

SIPHOKA

SIPHOKAZ

SIPHOKAZI Problem: Each letter is not unique

Will deal with this scenario soon
EXERCISE
(1) Number plates in Gauteng are of the form:
2 letters; 2 numbers, 2 letters; GP
No vowels are allowed. Repetition is allowed.
How many unique number plates can be registered according to this system.

(2) At A Lovely School the criteria for Grade 10 subject selection is:
• English is compulsory
• LO is compulsory
• Maths or Maths Literacy is compulsory.
• A second language is compulsory. Afrikaans, Zulu, Sotho, French are offered as
second languages.
• Students have to choose 3 remaining subjects from a choice of 10 subjects.
How many possible subject choice combinations does A Lovely School offer?

(3) How many unique “words” can be formed from the words:
(a) cat

(b) tiger

(c) spinach

(4) Roger has to do the following in yet another one of his hectic days:
o Drive to work (6 possible routes)
o From work drive to Pick n Pay (3 possible routes)
o From Pick n Pay drive to Steers (4 possible routes)
o From Steers drive home (2 possible routes)
How many possible combined route choices does poor, exploited Roger have?
PERMUTATIONS
A permutation refers to an arrangement of objects in which order is important.

EXAMPLE 5:
In how many ways can 6 different people be seated in the first six seats in a movie theatre?
_____________________________________

RULE 2: The number of arrangements of n different things taken in n ways is: n!

EXAMPLE 6:
In how many ways can 7 vacant places be filled by 10 different people?

RULE 3: The number of arrangements of n different things taken r at a time is given

n!
by nPr =
(n − r )!

EXAMPLE 7:
There are 12 different singers that are hoping to occupy the first three places in SA Idols. In how
many different ways can the first three places be occupied?

Hint: There are 12 people to be arranged in 3 different ways.

EXAMPLE 8:
In how many ways can 30 vacant places be filled by 100 people?

Phillips Green Book: exercise 1 page 72 and exercise 2 page 74

LETTER ARRANGEMENTS WITH WORDS WITH DIFFERENT LETTERS
EXAMPLE 9:
Consider the word LOVERS
a) How many six-letter word arrangements can be made if the letters can be repeated?

b) How many six-letter word arrangements can be made if the letters may not be repeated?

c) How many four-letter word arrangements can be made if the letters can be repeated?

d) How many four-letter word arrangements can be made if the letters may not be repeated?

e) How many repeated 4 letter word arrangements can be made if only one vowel can be
used and the letters may not be repeated?

Phillips Green Book: exercise 3 page 78

LETTER ARRANGEMENTS WHERE LETTERS ARE REPEATED
EXAMPLE 10:
Consider the letters of the word DAD:
(a) How many word arrangements can be made with this word if the repeated letters are
treated as different letters?

(b) How many word arrangements can be made with this word if the repeated letters are
treated as identical?

Since the D’s are identical, then – DAD, DDA, ADD

RULE 4: The number of different ways the n letters can be arranged where m1 of the
letters are identical, m2 of the letters are identical, m3 of the letters are
identical, …….., mn of the letters are identical is given by:

n!
where the repeated letters are treated as
m1 !  m2 !  m3 !...........  mn !
identical.
EXAMPLE 11:
In how many different ways can the letters of each of the following names be arranged?
(a) Naseem

(b) Hennie

(c) Cassandra

(d) Mississippi
EXAMPLE 12:
Consider the letters of the word NEEDED:
(a) How many word arrangements can be made with this word if the repeated letters are
treated as different letters?

(b) How many word arrangements can be made with this word if the repeated letters are
treated as identical?

(c) How many word arrangements can be made with this word starts and ends with the same
letter?

Phillips Green Book: exercise 4 page 81

ARRANGEMENTS OF OBJECTS IN A ROW
EXAMPLE 13:
(a) In how many different ways can three boys and 2 girls sit in a row?
______________________________________________________
(b) In how many ways can they sit in a row if a boy and his girlfriend must sit together?

(c) In how many ways can they sit in arrow if the boys and girls are each to sit together?

(d) In how many ways can they sit in a row if just the girls are to sit together?

(e) In how many ways can they sit in a row if just the boys are to sit together?

(f) In how many ways can they sit in a row if the boys and girls are to alternate?
EXERCISE
(1) In how many ways can 1st, 2nd and 3rd position be chosen in a 10 person swimming race?

(2) In how many ways can a Head Girl, Deputy Head Girl be chosen from a grade of 90
students?

(3) The ANC has a NEC of 80 members:

From the NEC they have to elect the following positions for the “Top Six”:
President; Deputy President; Secretary General; Chairperson; Treasurer; Deputy Secretary
General.
How many different permutations are there for the “Top Six” positions?

Phillips Green Book: exercise 5 page 87

EXAMPLES INVOLVING PROBABILITY

EXAMPLE 14:
Consider the letters of the word DREAMS. If the letters are arranged in any order without
repetition to form different words, what is the probability that the word formed will start with D and
end with S?

PASSWORDS AND CODES:

EXAMPLE 15:
A combination to a lock is formed using three letters of the alphabet, excluding the letters O, Q, S,
U, V and W and using any three digits. The numbers and letters can be repeated. Calculate the
probability that a combination, chosen at random:
(a) starts with the letter X and ends with the number 6.

(b) has exactly one X.

(c) has one or more number 6 in it.

NB: ‘one or more’ is the same as ‘AT LEAST one’

Phillips Green Book: exercise 6 page 90 and exercise 7 page 92