COMBINATORICS

& PROBABILITY

ENGR. BILLY RAY M. OLDAN, MScEE

Basic Counting Principles
Examples
1.How many ways you can wear your 3
shirts and 4 pants?

2.How many different single-scoop ice-

creams you could order from 6 flavours of
ice-cream with 3 different cones?

3.How many sample points are in the

sample space when a pair of dice is
thrown once?
It also works when you have
more than 2 choices
Examples

1.How many lunches consisting of a soup,

sandwich, dessert, and a drink are
possible if we can select 4 soups, 3 kinds
of sandwiches, 5 desserts, and 4 drinks?
2. How many even three-digit numbers can
be formed from the digits 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9
if each digit can be used only once?
3. How many three-digit numbers can be
formed from the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6,
if each digit can be used only once? How
many of these are odd numbers?
Examples

4. A witness to a hit-and-run accident told

the police that the license number contained
the letters RLH followed by three digits, the
first of which was a five. If the witness
cannot recall the last two digits, but is
certain that all three digits are different, find
the maximum number of automobile
registrations that the police may have to
check.
How many possible ways, three letters
a, b, and c, be arranged?

Using multiplication rule, we have

n1 = 3 choices for first position
n2 = 2 choices for second position
n3 = 1 choice for the last position
n1n2n3 = (3)(2)(1) = 6

abc acb bac

bca cba cab
In general, n distinct objects can be
arranged in n(n-1)(n-2) . . .(2)(1) ways
We represent this product by the symbol
n!., which is read “n factorial”.
1.a. In how many ways can 6 people be
lined up to get on a bus?

1.b. If certain 3 persons insist on following

each other, how many ways are possible?

2. How many ways can 3 men and 4 women

be seated on a bench if the woman are to be
together?
PERMUTATION
- is an arrangement of all or part of a set
of objects.

*The number of permutations of n distinct

objects is n!
The number of permutations of n distinct
objects taken r at a time is,

𝑛!
𝑛𝑃𝑟 =
𝑛−𝑟 !
1. Two lottery tickets are drawn from 20 for
the first and second prizes. Find the
number of sample points in the space S.
2. How many 4 digit numbers can be formed
without repeating any digit, from the
following digits 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.
Permutation of n objects with some
objects identical

𝑛!
𝑃=
𝑛1! 𝑛2! … 𝑛𝑘!
1. How many different ways can 3 red, 4
yellow, and 2 blue bulbs be arranged in a
string of Christmas tree lights with 9
sockets?
2. Permutate the word infinity
Permutation of n things in a Circle
(Cyclical Permutation)

𝑃 = (n - 1)!

1. In how many ways can 5 different trees

be planted in a circle?
COMBINATION

Combination refers to a collection of objects

without regard to sequence or order in
which they were chosen.

Combinations of n things taken r at a time

is:

𝑛!
C (𝑛, 𝑟) =
𝑛 − 𝑟 ! 𝑟!
Examples

1. How many combinations can be made out

of the letters ABCD and E taken two at a
time?
2. How many line segments can be formed
by 6 distinct points?
3. There are four balls of different colors.
Two balls at a time are taken and
arranged in any ways. How many such
combinations are possible?
PROBABILITY

- Is the likelihood than an event will occur

expressed as the ratio of the number of
favorable outcomes in the set of outcomes
divided by the total number of possible
outcomes.

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠

- 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠
Examples

1. For a single question in the board exams,

there are four choices and only one of
which is correct. By guessing, what is the
probability that you will get the correct
answer?
2. Find the probability of obtaining an even
number in one roll of a dice?
3. Roll a pair of dice one time. What is the
probability that the sum of two numbers
is 9?
Multiple Events

Dependent and Independent Events

-two or more events are said to be
dependent if the happening of one
affects the probability of the
happening of the others, and
independent if the happening of one
does not affect the probability of the
happening of the others.
Multiple Events

The probability of happening of two or

more independent or dependent
events is the product of their individual
probabilities.

P = P1 x P2 x P3 … Pk
Multiple Events
Mutually Exclusive
- Two or more events are said to be
mutually exclusive if it is impossible
for more than one of them happen in a
single trial.
The probability that some one, two, or
more mutually exclusive events happen
is the sum of their individual
probabilities
P = P1 + P2 + P3 + … + Pk
Example
A box contains 4 blue chips and 5 red chips
a) If one chip is drawn at random what is
the probability that it is blue?

b) If two chips are drawn at random, what is

the probability that both are red?

c) If two chips are drawn at random, what is

the probability that one is blue and the
other is red?
Examples

1. A bag contains 3 white and 5 red balls. If

two balls are drawn at random, find the
probability that both are white?
2. Two fair dice are thrown. What is the
probability that the sum shown on the
dice is divisible by 5?
3. A card is chosen from a pack of playing
cards. What is the probability that it is
red or a picture card?
Challenge Questions

1.a. How many three-digit numbers can be

formed from the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6,
if each digit can be used only once?
1.b. How many of these are odd numbers?
1.c. How many are greater than 330

2. A two digit number is chosen randomly.

What is the probability that it is divisible by
7?
Challenge Questions
3. How many line segments can be formed
by 13 distinct point?

4.a. A pair of dice is tossed. Find the

probability of getting a total of 8.
4.b. at most a total of 5.
THANK YOU!