COUNT

In the study of 'what is possible' there are essentially two types of

problems. There is the problem of making a list of everything that can happen in
una situación determinada y se tiene el problema de determinar cuántas cosas
diferentes pueden suceder (sin que en realidad se haga una lista completa). El
the second type of problem is of special importance because there are many situations
in which we do not need a complete list and, therefore, we can save a lot
cantidad de trabajo. Aunque el primer tipo de problema puede parecer directo y
simple, the following example illustrates that this is not always the case:

Example 1: A government agency is committed to purchasing three

vehicles to a local car dealer. Each of these vehicles can
be it a jeep, pickup truck, minivan, or any other type of vehicle. Mention
the different ways in which purchases can be made.

Solution: There are many possibilities. The three vehicles can be jeeps;
dos pueden ser jeeps y uno puede ser minvan; pueden comprarse dos camionetas
pick-up and a minivan; and so on. If we count this way, it is possible
that we omit some possibilities.

Tree diagram
The problem can be systematically handled by drawing a tree diagram.
as shown in the following figure.

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This diagram shows that there are 4 possibilities (branches) corresponding to 0, 1, 2 or
3 of the vehicles are jeeps. For the pick-up trucks, there are 4 derived branches.
from the main branch (0 jeeps), 3 branches derived from the next branch (1 jeep), 2
branches derived from the following branch (2 jeeps) and only one branch derived from the branch
inferior. Para el número de minivans, el razonamiento es similar. Se puede apreciar
that twenty branches end on the right side of the previous figure. In other words,
there are a total of 20 possibilities.

Example 2: In a medical study, patients are classified according to the type

de sangre (A, B, AB u O) y también de acuerdo con su tipo de presión sanguínea
What are the different ways a patient can be classified? (low, normal, high)

Solution:

Con base en el diagrama de la figura anterior se puede apreciar que la respuesta

es 12. Comenzando por la parte superior, el primer camino a lo largo de las
"ramas" corresponds to a patient with blood type A and low blood pressure;
the second path corresponds to a patient with blood type A and pressure
normal blood, ... and the twelfth path corresponds to a patient with
blood type O and high blood pressure.

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Multiplicación de opciones
The response obtained in example 2 is 4 ×3 =12 , specifically, the
product of the number of blood types and the number of pressure levels
sanguínea. Generalizando a partir de este ejemplo se puede establecer la regla
next

If a selection consists of k pasos, de los cuales el primero se puede efectuar en

n1 ways, for which the second step can be carried out in n2 ways, ..., and
para cada de éstas el k ésimo the step can be carried out fromnk forms, then the
selección completa puede realizarse de n1 ×n2 × ×nk different forms.

Ejemplo 3:¿De cuántas maneras diferentes se puede arreglar uno de los viajes
weekend specials to 12 different cities, by plane, train or bus, that
What does a travel agency offer?

Solución:Dado que n1 = 12n2 y = 3 hey 12 ×3 =36 different ways in which it

Can you fix one of those trips.

Example 4: A café offers a special meal that consists of a

sandwich (using one of eight different meats and one of four different types of
pan), una de cuatro clases distintas de sopa y una de tres bebidas diferentes. ¿De
cuántas maneras distintas una persona puede seleccionar una de estas comidas
especiales?

Solución:Dado que n1 = 8 , n2 = 4 , n3 4 y n4 = 3 , there is 8 × 4 × 4 × 3 =384

ways to select a special meal.

Example 5: A test consists of 15 multiple choice questions, of which

cada una tiene cuatro respuestas posibles. ¿De cuántas maneras distintas puede un
estudiante marcar una respuesta para cada pregunta (suponiendo que no estudió y
who has no idea about the subject)?

Solution: Since n1 = n2 = = n15 = 4 , there is 4151,073'741 ,824 diferentes

maneras en que un estudiante puede marcar una respuesta para cada pregunta.
Note that only in one of the 1,073,741,824 possibilities are all the answers.
correct and in 31514,348,907 All the answers are incorrect.

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Permutations
The rule for multiplying choices is often used when making
various selections from one and the same set and we are interested in the order in which
éstas se hacen.

Example 6: If twenty paintings participate in an art exhibition, how many

in what different ways can the judges award a first and a second prize?

Solution: Since the first prize can be awarded to ways nand1 = 20

the
second of n219 = ways, there is a total of 20 ×19 =380 maneras en que los
jueces pueden otorgar los dos premios.

Ejemplo 7:¿De cuántas maneras distintas los 52 miembros de un sindicato pueden

to choose a director, a deputy director, a secretary, and a treasurer?

Solution: Given that n1 = 52,n2 = 51,n3 =50

y n4 = 49 (regardless of the)
employee who is chosen in first, second, third or fourth place), there is a total
of 2
5150
5946 , 4 9 7 , 4 0 0 different possibilities.

In general, if selected r objects of a set of n objetos distintos,

Any arrangement (order) of these objects is known as a permutation.
{4, 1, 2, 3} is a permutation of the first four positive integers;
{Maine, Vermont, Connecticut} is a permutation (a particular order) of three of
the six states of New England and {Red Sox, Tigers, Indians, Orioles} and
{Azulejos, Medias Rojas, Yankees, Tigres} son dos permutaciones distintas
(orders) of four of the seven baseball teams in the East Division of the League
Americana.

Example 8: Determine the number of different permutations of two of the five

vocales y haz una lista de todas éstas.

Solution: Given that n1 = 5 yn2 = 4, hay 5 × 4 = 20 distinct permutations.

Éstas son:
ae, ai, ao, au,
ea, ei, eo, eu,
ia, ie, io, iu,
oa, oe, oi, ou,
ua, ue, ui, uo.

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 The mathematical formula for calculating permutations is:
n!
Pr = = n ( n -1) ( n − 2 ) ( n − r +1)
n
( n − r )!

Ejemplo 9:Encuentra el número de permutaciones de cuatro objetos seleccionados

de un conjunto de 12 objetos distintos (digamos, el número de maneras en que
cuatro de doce equipos de basketbol se pueden clasificar en primero, segundo,
third and fourth place by a team of coaches.

Solution: For n =12 y r =4 we have what

12! 12! 12()(11)(10)( 9(8!)
P =( = = =12 ×11 ×10 ×9 11,880 .
12 − 4 )!8!
12 4
8!

Problem 10: How many distinct ways are there to assign ten professors?
diez secciones de un curso de Economía?

10!
Solución: n = r =10 , therefore, P = = 10! = 10! 3,628,800 .
1
0 10 (10 ) 0! 1
-10 !

A lo largo de este análisis se ha supuesto que los n objetos son distintos. Cuando
this is not the case, a modification to the formula can be made, but it will not be
addressed in this course, due to its level of complexity.

Combinaciones
There are many problems where one wants to know thenumber of ways
in what can be selected r objetos de un conjunto de n objects, but not
the order in which this selection is made is of interest. For example, we want to know about
how many ways can a committee of four be selected from 45 members
the fraternity of a university or the number of ways in which the IRS (Internal
Revenue Service can select five out of thirty-six tax revenues to
una auditoría especial.
Para derivar una fórmula que se aplique a un problema como éstos, primero
let's analyze the 24 following permutations of three of the first four letters of
alphabet:
["abc","acb","bac","bca","cab","cba"]
["abd","adb","bad","bda","dab","dba"]
acd, adc, cad, cda, dac, dca
bcd, bdc, cbd, cdb, dbc, dcb

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 If we are NOT interested in the order in which the three letters are selected from the four.
letters a, b, c, and d, there are only four ways to make the selection: abc,
abd, acd and bcd. Note that these are the groups of letters that appear in the first
column of the table and each row contains the 3P3!
3
6 permutaciones de
las tres letras de la primera columna.
In general, there are r Pr r! permutations of r distinct objects, in a way
what r permutations of r selected objects from among n distinct objects
n P
contain each group of r objetos times. In our example, the 4P 3 =24

permutaciones de tres letras seleccionadas de entre las primeras cuatro letras del
the alphabet contains every group of three letters3P3! 3
6 times. Hence, for
obtain a formula for the number of ways to select r
objects of a set of n distinct objects without regard to their order,
we divide nP r between Referring to this selection as a combination
of n taken objects r at the same time, we express the number of combinations as
n
=n C r= n =Pr n!
r r!r! ( n −r ) !

Example 11: How many ways can a person select three books from a
list of eight best-sellers?

Solution: Since it is assumed here that the order in which is not important
select the three books, we substitute n8 yr3 in the formula of
8 8! 8 ×7×6×5!
combinations and we obtain: =8C 3= 3! =5 =56
3 ×3!×2×1×5!

Example 12: How many different ways can a laboratory director...

investigación puede seleccionar a dos químicos de entre siete solicitantes y a tres
physicists among nine applicants?

Solution: The two chemists can be selected from 7C 2 ways and the three
physicists can be selected from 9C 3 ways, so that, by the rule of the
multiplication of options, the five elements can be selected from
2
1847
6
41
, maneras.

Ejercicios:

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In a World Series of baseball, the winner is the first team to win four.
games. Suppose that the champion of the American League surpasses the champion of the League
National by three games to two. Create a tree diagram to show the way to
ways in which these teams can reach the end of the series.

2. Una persona que tiene $3 apuesta $1, a la par, en un lanzamiento al aire de una moneda.
En tanto que tenga algo de dinero seguirá apostando $1. Elabora un diagrama de árbol
para mostrar los diversos eventos que pueden tener lugar en los primeros cuatro
coin launches. In how many of the cases will there be
earned exactly $2?
b) ganado exactamente $1?
c) settled up?
lost exactly $1?
lost exactly $2?

A student can study 0, 1, or 2 hours for a Statistics test in one night.

certain. Create a tree diagram to find the number of ways in which
el estudiante puede estudiar
a total of exactly five hours over three consecutive nights.
b) a a total of five hours, at least, on three consecutive nights.

4. In a political science survey, voters are classified into six categories of

income and five categories of education. How many different ways can it be
classify a voter?

A furniture store chain has three warehouses and twenty sales branches.
menudeo. ¿De cuántas maneras diferentes puede embarcar un artículo de uno de los
warehouses to one of the retail branches?

6. Un representante de compras hace sus pedidos por teléfono, fax, correo o mensajería.
Se solicita que se confirmen sus pedidos sea por teléfono o por fax. ¿De cuántas
What different ways can one place and confirm an order?

7. A psychologist is preparing three-letter nonsensical words to use in a test.

de memoria. Selecciona la primera letra de las consonantesk, m, w yz. Selecciona la
letra de en medio de las vocalesa, i yu. Selecciona la última letra de las consonantes
b, d, f, k, m yt.
a) How many different meaningless three-letter words can be structured?
b) How many of these nonsensical words will start with the letter z?
c) How many of these nonsense words will end with kom?
d) How many of these nonsensical words will start and end with the same letter?

8. A true-false test consists of ten questions. How many ways

Can a student mark a response for each question?
A pizzeria offers ten additional ingredients for its pizzas. The customer can
sort any of the ten additional ingredients or none of them. How many

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 Are different types of pizza possible? (Suggestion: for each ingredient, the customer
he must decide whether to select it or not.

10. A person who spends seven nights in Cancun has obtained a list of the eight
best Italian restaurants and the nine best Chinese restaurants in the city. What about
how many different ways can this person have seven dinners at these restaurants,
assuming I want to try a different one each night and that I also want to alternate
entre la comida italiana y la china?

11. ¿De cuántas maneras distintas se pueden asignar a once representantes de servicio
for four new corporate clients, assuming that each representative of
servicio se le pueda asignar a lo sumo uno de los clientes corporativos?

12. An amusement park has 28 different rides. How many ways

different a person can take four of these routes, assuming the order
es importante y que esta persona no quiera tomar un recorrido más de una vez?

13. If nine horses participate in a race, how many different ways can they be arranged?
finish in first, second, and third place?

14. How many different ways can eight books be placed on a bookshelf?

15. The gift shop of a tourist center has 15 different postcards. How many
In how many ways can a person select four of these postcards as a souvenir?

16. A pizzeria offers ten additional toppings for its pizza. How many
maneras un cliente puede seleccionar tres ingredientes adicionales para su pizza?

17. A bookstore has a sale where a customer gets a special price if they buy
cuatro de los diez best-sellers actuales. ¿De cuántas maneras un cliente puede hacer tal
selection?

18. A grid of twelve eggs contains a broken egg. How many ways can one
persona puede seleccionar tres de estos huevos y
a) sacar el huevo roto?
b) no sacar el huevo roto?

19. Un paquete de diez baterías tiene dos piezas defectuosas. ¿De cuántas maneras se
you can select three of these batteries and take out
a) ninguna de las baterías defectuosas?
b) one of the defective batteries?
c) the two defective batteries?

20. A men's clothing store offers eight types of sweaters, six types of
pants and ten types of shirts. How many ways can two be selected?
clothes from each category for a special sale?

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21. Susana is one of seven office workers in a small company. Three will be selected.
of these workers to be part of a committee.
a) How many different ways can three of these people be selected to
be part of the committee?
b) In how many different ways can you select three of these people from
so that Susana does not become part of the committee?
c) ¿De cuántas maneras diferentes se puede seleccionar a tres de estas personas de
So that Susana is one of the chosen ones?
d) Verifica tus respuestas en los incisos b) y c) sumando el resultado al del inciso a).

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