Systematic listing and the product rule for counting worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.Ten players enter a chess tournament. Every player plays every other player exactly once. Work out how many games are played in the tournament.

2.Five different books are placed in a row on a shelf. Work out how many different orders the five books can be placed in.

3.A netball team has 8 players. Two of them are chosen to be captains, and the two captains have equal standing. Work out how many different pairs of captains could be chosen.

4.Three-digit numbers are made using the digits 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9. No digit may be used twice in the same number. Work out how many of these three-digit numbers are odd.

5.A school council must choose a committee of 3 pupils from 8 volunteers. The three places on the committee are all the same, so only which pupils are chosen matters. Work out how many different committees could be formed.

6.A photography studio offers 4 backdrops and 3 outfits for a portrait session. The plain grey backdrop, one of the 4 backdrops, cannot be used with the formal suit outfit, one of the 3 outfits. Work out how many different backdrop-and-outfit combinations are possible.

7.A café is planning its lunch menu. It will offer one soup from 3 choices and one sandwich from 4 choices, but the mushroom soup, one of the 3 soups, will only be served with the cheese sandwich, one of the 4 sandwiches, on a normal day. Work out how many different soup-and-sandwich combinations are available on a normal day.

8.A café offers sandwiches with one filling from 5 choices and one type of bread from 4 choices. Cheese and mustard, which is one of the 5 fillings, is not available on gluten-free bread, which is one of the 4 breads. Work out how many different sandwiches are possible.

9.By listing systematically, work out how many two-digit multiples of 5 can be made using the digits 0, 3 and 5, if each digit can be used at most once and the number cannot start with 0.

10.A car manufacturer offers a car in 6 colours and 4 trim levels. Two colour-and-trim combinations are not available: red with sport trim, and white with sport trim. Work out how many different colour-and-trim combinations are available.

11.A florist has 5 different flowers. Freya picks 3 of them to make a small bunch, and the order in which she picks them does not matter. Work out how many different bunches she could make.

12.A 3-character PIN starts with one letter chosen from A, B, C, D and E, followed by two different digits chosen from 1 to 9 (no digit may be used twice in the same PIN). Work out how many different PINs are possible.

13.Ten athletes run in a final. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the first three athletes to finish, and there are no ties. Work out how many different ways the three medals can be awarded.

14.Two-digit numbers are made using the digits 1, 2, 3 and 4, and no digit may be used twice in the same number. Work out how many different two-digit numbers can be made.

15.A café sells ice cream in three flavours: vanilla, mango and pistachio. Isla buys a cone with two scoops, using two different flavours, one for the bottom scoop and one for the top scoop. Work out how many different cones she could buy.