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Contemporary Mathematics

7.1 The Multiplication Rule for Counting

Contemporary Mathematics7.1 The Multiplication Rule for Counting

Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Sets
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 Basic Set Concepts
    3. 1.2 Subsets
    4. 1.3 Understanding Venn Diagrams
    5. 1.4 Set Operations with Two Sets
    6. 1.5 Set Operations with Three Sets
    7. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  3. 2 Logic
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 Statements and Quantifiers
    3. 2.2 Compound Statements
    4. 2.3 Constructing Truth Tables
    5. 2.4 Truth Tables for the Conditional and Biconditional
    6. 2.5 Equivalent Statements
    7. 2.6 De Morgan’s Laws
    8. 2.7 Logical Arguments
    9. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Projects
      5. Chapter Review
      6. Chapter Test
  4. 3 Real Number Systems and Number Theory
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 Prime and Composite Numbers
    3. 3.2 The Integers
    4. 3.3 Order of Operations
    5. 3.4 Rational Numbers
    6. 3.5 Irrational Numbers
    7. 3.6 Real Numbers
    8. 3.7 Clock Arithmetic
    9. 3.8 Exponents
    10. 3.9 Scientific Notation
    11. 3.10 Arithmetic Sequences
    12. 3.11 Geometric Sequences
    13. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  5. 4 Number Representation and Calculation
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 Hindu-Arabic Positional System
    3. 4.2 Early Numeration Systems
    4. 4.3 Converting with Base Systems
    5. 4.4 Addition and Subtraction in Base Systems
    6. 4.5 Multiplication and Division in Base Systems
    7. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Projects
      5. Chapter Review
      6. Chapter Test
  6. 5 Algebra
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Algebraic Expressions
    3. 5.2 Linear Equations in One Variable with Applications
    4. 5.3 Linear Inequalities in One Variable with Applications
    5. 5.4 Ratios and Proportions
    6. 5.5 Graphing Linear Equations and Inequalities
    7. 5.6 Quadratic Equations with Two Variables with Applications
    8. 5.7 Functions
    9. 5.8 Graphing Functions
    10. 5.9 Systems of Linear Equations in Two Variables
    11. 5.10 Systems of Linear Inequalities in Two Variables
    12. 5.11 Linear Programming
    13. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  7. 6 Money Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 Understanding Percent
    3. 6.2 Discounts, Markups, and Sales Tax
    4. 6.3 Simple Interest
    5. 6.4 Compound Interest
    6. 6.5 Making a Personal Budget
    7. 6.6 Methods of Savings
    8. 6.7 Investments
    9. 6.8 The Basics of Loans
    10. 6.9 Understanding Student Loans
    11. 6.10 Credit Cards
    12. 6.11 Buying or Leasing a Car
    13. 6.12 Renting and Homeownership
    14. 6.13 Income Tax
    15. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  8. 7 Probability
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 The Multiplication Rule for Counting
    3. 7.2 Permutations
    4. 7.3 Combinations
    5. 7.4 Tree Diagrams, Tables, and Outcomes
    6. 7.5 Basic Concepts of Probability
    7. 7.6 Probability with Permutations and Combinations
    8. 7.7 What Are the Odds?
    9. 7.8 The Addition Rule for Probability
    10. 7.9 Conditional Probability and the Multiplication Rule
    11. 7.10 The Binomial Distribution
    12. 7.11 Expected Value
    13. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Formula Review
      4. Projects
      5. Chapter Review
      6. Chapter Test
  9. 8 Statistics
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 Gathering and Organizing Data
    3. 8.2 Visualizing Data
    4. 8.3 Mean, Median and Mode
    5. 8.4 Range and Standard Deviation
    6. 8.5 Percentiles
    7. 8.6 The Normal Distribution
    8. 8.7 Applications of the Normal Distribution
    9. 8.8 Scatter Plots, Correlation, and Regression Lines
    10. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  10. 9 Metric Measurement
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 The Metric System
    3. 9.2 Measuring Area
    4. 9.3 Measuring Volume
    5. 9.4 Measuring Weight
    6. 9.5 Measuring Temperature
    7. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  11. 10 Geometry
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 Points, Lines, and Planes
    3. 10.2 Angles
    4. 10.3 Triangles
    5. 10.4 Polygons, Perimeter, and Circumference
    6. 10.5 Tessellations
    7. 10.6 Area
    8. 10.7 Volume and Surface Area
    9. 10.8 Right Triangle Trigonometry
    10. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  12. 11 Voting and Apportionment
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 Voting Methods
    3. 11.2 Fairness in Voting Methods
    4. 11.3 Standard Divisors, Standard Quotas, and the Apportionment Problem
    5. 11.4 Apportionment Methods
    6. 11.5 Fairness in Apportionment Methods
    7. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  13. 12 Graph Theory
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 Graph Basics
    3. 12.2 Graph Structures
    4. 12.3 Comparing Graphs
    5. 12.4 Navigating Graphs
    6. 12.5 Euler Circuits
    7. 12.6 Euler Trails
    8. 12.7 Hamilton Cycles
    9. 12.8 Hamilton Paths
    10. 12.9 Traveling Salesperson Problem
    11. 12.10 Trees
    12. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Videos
      4. Formula Review
      5. Projects
      6. Chapter Review
      7. Chapter Test
  14. 13 Math and...
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1 Math and Art
    3. 13.2 Math and the Environment
    4. 13.3 Math and Medicine
    5. 13.4 Math and Music
    6. 13.5 Math and Sports
    7. Chapter Summary
      1. Key Terms
      2. Key Concepts
      3. Formula Review
      4. Projects
      5. Chapter Review
      6. Chapter Test
  15. A | Co-Req Appendix: Integer Powers of 10
  16. Answer Key
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
    8. Chapter 8
    9. Chapter 9
    10. Chapter 10
    11. Chapter 11
    12. Chapter 12
    13. Chapter 13
  17. Index
Close up of a hand lifting two playing cards at a poker table.
Figure 7.2 The Multiplication Rule for Counting allows us to compute more complicated probabilities, like drawing two aces from a deck. (credit: “Pair of Aces – Poker” by Poker Photos/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Learning Objectives

After completing this section, you should be able to:

  1. Apply the Multiplication Rule for Counting to solve problems.

One of the first bits of mathematical knowledge children learn is how to count objects by pointing to them in turn and saying: “one, two, three, …” That’s a useful skill, but when the number of things that we need to count grows large, that method becomes onerous (or, for very large numbers, impossible for humans to accomplish in a typical human lifespan). So, mathematicians have developed short cuts to counting big numbers. These techniques fall under the mathematical discipline of combinatorics, which is devoted to counting.

Multiplication as a Combinatorial Short Cut

One of the first combinatorial short cuts to counting students learn in school has to do with areas of rectangles. If we have a set of objects to be counted that can be physically arranged into a rectangular shape, then we can use multiplication to do the counting for us. Consider this set of objects (Figure 7.3):

A group of beach balls arranged in 1 long row.
Figure 7.3

Certainly we can count them by pointing and running through the numbers, but it’s more efficient to group them (Figure 7.4).

A group of beach balls arranged in 4 rows of 6 balls.
Figure 7.4

If we group the balls by 4s, we see that we have 6 groups (or, we can see this arrangement as 4 groups of 6 balls). Since multiplication is repeated addition (i.e., 6×4=4+4+4+4+4+46×4=4+4+4+4+4+4), we can use this grouping to quickly see that there are 24 balls.

Let’s generalize this idea a little bit. Let’s say that we’re visiting a bakery that offers customized cupcakes. For the cake, we have three choices: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Each cupcake can be topped with one of four types of frosting: vanilla, chocolate, lemon, and strawberry. How many different cupcake combinations are possible? We can think of laying out all the possibilities in a grid, with cake choices defining the rows and frosting choices defining the columns (Figure 7.5).

A rectangular grid with 3 rows and 4 columns. The row headers representing the cakes show vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. The column headers representing the frostings show vanilla, chocolate, lemon, and strawberry. Data from the grid are as follows. Row 1: vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, vanilla cake with lemon frosting, and vanilla cake with strawberry frosting. Row 2: chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with lemon frosting, and chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. Row 3: strawberry cake with vanilla frosting, strawberry cake with chocolate frosting, strawberry cake with lemon frosting, and strawberry cake with strawberry frosting.
Figure 7.5

Since there are 3 rows (cakes) and 4 columns (frostings), we have 3×4=123×4=12 possible combinations. This is the reasoning behind the Multiplication Rule for Counting, which is also known as the Fundamental Counting Principle. This rule says that if there are nn ways to accomplish one task and mm ways to accomplish a second task, then there are n×mn×m ways to accomplish both tasks. We can tack on additional tasks by multiplying the number of ways to accomplish those tasks to our previous product.

Example 7.1

Using the Multiplication Rule for Counting

Every card in a standard deck of cards has two identifying characteristics: a suit (clubs, diamonds, hearts, or spades; these are indicated by these symbols, respectively: , , , ) and a rank (ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, and king; the letters A, J, Q, and K are used to represent the words). Each possible pair of suit and rank appears exactly once in the deck. How many cards are in the standard deck?

Your Turn 7.1

1.
Joe’s Pizza Shack offers pizzas with 4 different types of crust and a choice of 15 toppings. How many different one-topping pizzas can be made at Joe’s?

Example 7.2

Using the Multiplication Rule for Counting for 4 Groups

The University Combinatorics Club has 31 members: 8 seniors, 7 juniors, 5 sophomores, and 11 first-years. How many possible 4-person committees can be formed by selecting 1 member from each class?

Your Turn 7.2

1.
The menu for Joe’s Pizza Shack offers pizzas with 4 different types of crust and a choice of 15 toppings. Suppose that Joe’s also offers a choice of 3 sauces and 2 cheese blends. How many different one-topping pizzas can be made at Joe’s now?

Example 7.3

Using the Multiplication Rule for Counting for More Groups

The standard license plates for vehicles in a certain state consist of 6 characters: 3 letters followed by 3 digits. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and 10 digits (0 through 9) to choose from. How many license plates can be made using this format?

Your Turn 7.3

1.
At a certain college, ID cards are issued to all students, faculty, and staff. These cards have unique ID codes for each person: a letter to indicate the person’s status (S for students, F for faculty, and E for staff), followed by 5 digits and finally 3 letters (these letters can be anything). How many different ID codes can be created using this scheme?

Check Your Understanding

1.
A website that lets you build custom belts has 18 different buckles and 30 different straps. How many different belts can be made using those materials?
2.
A chain of chicken restaurants offers a combo that includes your choice of 3 or 5 chicken strips, along with your choice of side dish. If there are 7 side dishes, how many different ways are there to build this combo meal?
3.
When you flip a coin, there are 2 possible outcomes: heads and tails. Let’s say you flip a coin 10 times, and after each you write down the result of the flip (H for heads, T for tails). How many different results (strings of 10 characters, where each is either an H or a T) are possible?
4.
A T-shirt company allows shoppers to customize their shirts in several ways. There are 5 sizes, 8 shirt colors, 4 designs, and 5 design colors. How many different shirts can be made?
5.
Josephine is trying to build her class schedule for next semester. Because of her work schedule, she has only 4 class periods that can work for her, and she must take 4 classes. If there are 15 classes that she could take during the first period, 18 during the second, 12 during the third, and 8 during the fourth, how many different schedules could Josephine build?

Section 7.1 Exercises

An ice-cream parlor sells 26 different flavors of ice cream. A basic sundae has one scoop of any flavor of ice cream, your choice of one of 3 sauces, and any one of 8 different toppings.
1 .
How many different basic sundaes are possible?
2 .
The ice-cream parlor also sells a medium sundae. The options are the same except it starts with 2 scoops of ice cream, which can be the same flavor or different flavors. How many different medium sundaes are there?
3 .
The ice-cream parlor also sells a large sundae. The choice of a large sundae allows you to choose any 3 scoops of ice cream, any 2 sauces (they can be the same, or you can choose 2 different ones), and any 3 toppings (that might be 3 servings of the same topping, or 2 servings of one topping and a single serving of another, or 3 different toppings). How many different large sundaes are possible?
4 .
A company that builds custom computers offers 4 hard drive sizes, 4 memory sizes, 3 graphics cards, and 3 display options. How many computer configurations do they offer, if customers choose one of each customization?
5 .
A video game allows users to customize their avatars. There are 12 hair styles that users may choose from, as well as 5 hair colors, 8 skin tones, 24 shirts, 12 pants, and 8 shoes. How many different avatars are possible?
6 .
A small company has 3 divisions: Sales, Research and Development, and Manufacturing. One person from each division will be chosen to create an advisory board for the management group. If there are 8 people in Sales, 15 in Research and Development, and 48 in Manufacturing, how many different compositions of the advisory board are possible?
7 .
A multiple-choice quiz has 5 questions, each of which has 4 possible answers. How many different ways are there to respond to this quiz?
8 .
The teacher decides to make the quiz from above a little harder by offering 5 responses on each of the 5 questions. How many ways are there to respond to this quiz?
9 .
In the United States, radio and television broadcast stations are assigned unique identifiers known as call signs. Call signs consist of 4 letters. The first is either K or W (generally speaking, stations with a K call sign are west of the Mississippi River and stations with a W call sign are east of the river, though there are several exceptions to this rule); the remaining 3 letters can be anything. How many possible call signs are there under this system?
10 .
Little sister has asked big brother to play a new game she’s invented. It uses a modified deck of cards with 3 suits and only the numbered cards (those with rank 2 through 10). How many cards are in her deck?
11 .
The board game Mastermind has 2 players. One of them is designated the codemaker who creates a code that consists of a series of 4 colors (indicated in the game with 4 colored pegs), which may contain repeats. The other player, who is the codebreaker, tries to guess the code. If there are 6 colors that the codemaker can use to make the code, how many possible codes can be made?
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