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The counting principles

Product rule, sum rule, permutations, combinations, and when each applies.

Independent choices multiply; exclusive alternatives add. Ordered selections are permutations, unordered are combinations. Picture it: a tree diagram, each level a choice, each leaf an outcome. Think it: every counting formula is a bijection with something easy to count.

ნამდვილი ასლი · 5 choose 2

Discrete-Math · Counting

5 choose 2

5,\ 2

Step by step

  1. \binom{5}{2} = \frac{5!}{2!\,(5-2)!}

    Unordered selections: n! / (k! (n−k)!).

  2. = \frac{120}{2 \times 6} = 10

Reveal the answer
\binom{5}{2} = 10

Now you Pick a problem, or type or draw your own. Every step, a picture, the answer hidden until you ask.

Keep your own working

უფასო ანგარიშის გამოყენებისას, ყველა გაკვეთილზე დამატებით ჩანაწერებს ნახავთ, დასრულებული და გადაწყვეტილი ამოცანების ჩანაწერებს ერთ ადგილას და მასწავლებელს, რომელსაც ამ გვერდის შესახებ შეკითხვა შეგიძლიათ გაუწიოთ. მათემატიკა ყველასთვის ხელმისაწვდომია, ანგარიშის შექმნის შემდეგაც კი.

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როგორ: The counting principles

  1. Decide whether order matters (permutation) or not (combination).
  2. Decide whether repetition is allowed.
  3. Break the count into independent stages (multiply) or exclusive cases (add).
  4. Sanity-check with a tiny case you can list by hand.

Questions people ask

Permutation or combination?

Ask whether order matters. A lock code is a permutation (order matters); a hand of cards is a combination (it does not).

What is a graph in this sense?

Dots (vertices) joined by lines (edges), not a plot. Road maps, social networks and molecules are graphs; questions like "is there a route" and "how few colours" are graph theory.

მეტი Combinatorics & Graph Theory

Pigeonhole principle and inclusion, exclusionBinomial coefficients and Pascal's triangleRecurrences and generating functionsGraphs: vertices, edges, degreesPaths, cycles, trees, Euler and HamiltonColouring and planar graphs