Basic Principle of Counting

Short tutorial that explains you on the basic principle of counting, or the rule of product or multiplication principle.

Rule of Product - Multiplication Principle

The basic principle of counting is the rule of product or multiplication principle which states that, when there are m ways of doing one, and n ways of doing the other, then there are mxn ways of doing both.

This basic counting principle is used as the guiding rule for finding the number of ways to accomplish two tasks.

For example,

Consider that if you want to flip a coin and roll a die.

According to the basic principle of counting,

There are 2 ways that you can flip a coin and 6 ways that you can roll a die.

Applying the Rule of Product or Multiplication Principle,

There are 2 x 6 = 12 ways that you can flip a coin and roll a die.

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