PC.6 Notes: Basic Counting and Permutations.

Basic Counting Rule

If we are asked to choose one item from each of two separate categories where there are m
items in the first category and n items in the second category, then the total number of
available choices is m • n.

1. A movie theater offers 4 flavors of popcorn and 3 sizes. In how many ways can customers
order popcorn?

a. Draw a tree diagram and show the sample space.

b. How many outcomes in this sample space?

c. Use the Basic Counting Rule to check your solution.

2. A pizza can be ordered in three sizes (small, medium, and large) and 8 choices of toppings
(cheese only, green peppers, sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushrooms, olives, and ground beef).
How many one-topping pizzas can be ordered?

3. An online company is offering a date night special: pick one movie from four choices, one
restaurant from six choices and either flowers, chocolates or wine. How many possible date
night options are there?
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4. You are taking a multiple choice test with 12 questions. Each of the questions has five choices,
A-E, with one correct answer per question. If you select one of these five choices for each
question and leave nothing blank, in how many ways can you answer the questions?

5. Your school offers two English classes, three math classes and three history classes. You want
to take one of each class. How many different ways are there to organize your schedule?

6. A company requires a 6-digit code to get into the building. The code cannot begin with a zero.
How many different codes are possible?

7. You are taking a test that has five True/False questions. If you answer each question with
True or False and leave none of them blank, in how many ways can you answer the whole test?

8. A company places a 6-symbol code on each unit of product. The code consists of 4 digits, the
first of which is the number 5, followed by 2 letters, the first of which is NOT a vowel. How
many different codes are possible?
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Permutation

A permutation is an ordered arrangement of items that occurs:

• Without replacement

• Order matters

PRO –

9. Six jokes about books are delivered from the following entertainers.

Groucho Marx Steven Wright Jerry Seinfeld

George Carlin Henny Youngman Phyllis Diller

a. Determine the number of ways these jokes can be delivered.

b. How many ways can the six jokes about books be delivered if George Carlin’s joke is delivered
first and Jerry Seinfeld’s joke is told last?

10. You need to arrange seven of your favorite books along a small shelf. How many different ways
can you arrange the books, assuming that the order of the books makes a difference to you?

Factorial

𝑛𝑛! = 𝑛𝑛(𝑛𝑛 − 1)(𝑛𝑛 − 2) ⋯ (3)(2)(1)

11. Evaluate the following factorial expressions without using the factorial key on your calculator:
8! 26! 500!
a. b. c.
5! 21! 499!
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12. A signal can be formed by running different colored flags up a pole, one above the other. There
are nine different colored flags to pick from.

a. Find the number of different signals consisting of nine different colored flags that can be
made.

b. How many different signals consisting of four different colored flags can be made?

Permutation

Permuation of “n” things taken “r” at a time.

𝑛𝑛!
nPr = (𝑛𝑛−𝑟𝑟)! .

13. You and 19 of your friends have decided to form an Internet marketing consulting firm. The
group needs to choose three officers—a CEO, an operating manager, and a treasurer. In how
many ways can those offices be filled?

14. How many different ways can a director select from 200 male actors to cast the roles of Mark,
Benny, Roger, Angel, and Collins in the musical Rent?

Permutations of Duplicate items

The number of permutations of 𝑛𝑛 item, where 𝑝𝑝 items are identical, 𝑞𝑞 items are identical,
𝑟𝑟 items are identical, and so on, is given by
𝑛𝑛!
𝑝𝑝! 𝑞𝑞! 𝑟𝑟! …

15. In how many distinct ways can the letters of the word MISSISSIPPI be arranged?

16. In how many ways can the digits in the number 2,826,886 be arranged?
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PC.7 Notes: Combinations

Combination

A combination is an ordered arrangement of items that occurs:

• Without replacement

• Order doesn’t matter

CON –

1. For each of the following problems, determine whether the problem is one involving
permutations or combinations. (It is not necessary to solve the problem.)

a. Six students are running for student government president, vice-president, and treasurer.
The student with the greatest number of votes becomes the president, the second highest
vote-getter becomes vice-president, and the student who gets the third largest number of
votes will be treasurer. How many different outcomes are possible for these three positions?

b. Six people are on the board of supervisors for your neighborhood park. A three-person
committee is needed to study the possibility of expanding the park. How many different
committees could be formed from the six people?

c. Baskin-Robbins offers 31 different flavors of ice cream. One of its items is a bowl consisting
of three scoops of ice cream, each a different flavor. How many such bowls are possible?

d. You start a new job and want to choose three software packages out of 10 that the company
has available for you. How many ways can you select your new software?

e. How many different four-digit passwords can be formed?

f. You volunteer to drive volunteers to a local charity event but can only fit six of the eight
volunteers in your vehicle. How many groups of six volunteers can you drive?
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Combination

Combination of “n” things taken “r” at a time.

𝑛𝑛!
nCr = (𝑛𝑛−𝑟𝑟)!𝑟𝑟! .

2. A three-person committee is needed to study ways of improving public transportation. How

many committees could be formed from the eight people on the board of supervisors?

3. In December 2009, the U.S. Senate consisted of 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans. How many
distinct five-person committees can be formed if each committee must have 3 Democrats and 2
Republicans?

4. In poker, a person is dealt 5 cards from a standard 52-card deck. The order in which the 5
cards are received does not matter.

a. How many different five-card hands are possible?

b. How many ways can you get three aces and two kings in a five-card poker hand?

c. How many ways can you get three queens?

d. How many ways can you get one ace, one king, one queen, one jack, and one ten?
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PC.8 Notes: Probability with Combinations and Permutations

Probability with Permutations

1. Martha, Lee, Nancy, Paul, and Armando have all been invited to a dinner party. They arrive
randomly, and each person arrives at a different time.

a. In how many ways can they arrive?

b. In how many ways can Martha arrive first and Armando last?

c. Find the probability that Martha will arrive first and Armando last.

2. Seven different colored flags are randomly put on a flagpole. The colors of the flags are pink,
red, blue, green, yellow, white, and tan. What’s the probability that the pink one will be in the
middle, and that the green and yellow ones will be on the ends?

3. Six stand-up comics A, B, C, D, E, and F are to perform on a single evening at a comedy club.
The order of performance is determined by random selection. Find the probability that

a. Comic E will perform first.

b. Comic C will perform fifth and comic B will perform last.

c. The comedians will perform in the following order: D, E, C, A, B, F

d. Comic A or comic B will perform first.

4. Three professors and three students line up at the cafeteria at MCC. Find the probability that
the first person in line is a student and the line alternates between students and professors.
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Probability with Combinations

5. You are dealt 5 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards. What is the probability of getting
two jacks, two aces, and 1 king? Write answer as both a simplified fraction and a percent
rounded to five decimal places.

6. A group consists of seven men and six women. Four people are selected to attend a meeting.
Find the probability that the selected group will consist of all women.

7. A state lottery is designed so that a player chooses five numbers from 1 to 45 on one lottery
ticket. The order in which the numbers are selected is not important.

a. What is the probability that a player with one lottery ticket will win? Round to nine decimal
places.

b. What is the probability of winning if 200 different lottery tickets are purchased? Round
to six decimal places.
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8. Five people are selected randomly to be on a committee from a group of six juniors and eight
seniors.

a. Find the probability that the 5 people selected are all seniors.

b. Find the probability that the committee consists of 2 juniors and 3 seniors.

9. A parent-teacher committee consisting of four people is to be selected from fifteen parents

and five teachers. Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a percent.

a. Find the probability of selecting four parents.

b. Find the probability of selecting two parents and two teachers.

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Deck of Cards

Module 4 Probability
Basic Probability of an Event Complementary of an Event
P(E) + P(𝐸𝐸) = 1
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑒 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝐸𝐸 P(E) = 1 – P(𝐸𝐸)
𝑃𝑃(𝐸𝐸) =
𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 P(𝐸𝐸) = 1 – P(E)

Odds For an Event Odds Against an Event

# of ways event can occur : # of ways event cannot occur # of ways event cannot occur : # of ways event can occur
𝑃𝑃(𝐸𝐸) 𝑃𝑃(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 𝐸𝐸)
Odds = Odds =
𝑃𝑃(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 𝐸𝐸) 𝑃𝑃(𝐸𝐸)

Expected Value

Expected value = (probability of event 1)(possible outcome of event 1) + (probability of event 2)(
possible outcome of event 2)…+ (probability of event n)( possible outcome of event n)

Probability for Independent Events Conditional Probability Probability for Dependent

Events

𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝐵𝐵) = 𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴) ∙ 𝑃𝑃(𝐵𝐵) 𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝐵𝐵) 𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝐵𝐵) = 𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴) ∙ 𝑃𝑃(𝐵𝐵 | 𝐴𝐴)
𝑃𝑃(𝐵𝐵 | 𝐴𝐴) =
𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴)
P(A and B and C) = P(A) ∙ P(B) ∙P(C)

Probability of Either Events At least Once Rule

𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝐵𝐵) = 𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴) + 𝑃𝑃(𝐵𝐵) − 𝑃𝑃(𝐴𝐴 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝐵𝐵) 𝑃𝑃(𝐸𝐸 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑛𝑛 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡) = 1 − [𝑃𝑃(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 𝐸𝐸)]𝑛𝑛

Permutation Formula Permutations of Duplicate Objects Combination Formula

n! 𝑛𝑛! n!
Pr = Cr =
n
(n - r)! 𝑝𝑝! 𝑞𝑞! 𝑟𝑟! … n
(n − r )!r!