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Suppose that there are 22 letters in the alphabet. (a) A standard plate consists of 3 letters followed by 3 digits. How many standard license plates are possible? (b) A vanity plate consists of 3 to 6 letters. How many vanity plates are possible? (c) A VIP plate consists of 3 characters which might be a letter or a digit. How many VIP plates are possible? (d) If a car license plate must be a standard plate, or a vanity plate or a VIP plate, how many possible license plates are there?

User Astletron
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1 Answer

3 votes

Answer:

(a) 10,648,000

(b) 118,778,440

(c) 32,768

(d) 129,448,560

Explanation:

We use the counting principle.

(a)

22 × 22 × 22 × 10 × 10 × 10 = 10,648,000

(b)

3 letters: 22 × 22 × 22 = 10,648

4 letters: 22 × 22 × 22 × 22 = 234,256

5 letters: 22 × 22 × 22 × 22 × 22 = 5,153,632

6 letters: 22 × 22 × 22 × 22 × 22 × 22 = 113,379,904

Total:

10,648 + 234,256 + 5,153,632 + 113,379,904 = 118,778,440

(c)

32 × 32 × 32 = 32,768

(d)

This is the sum of the numbers of plates obtained in parts (a), (b), and (c), but we must make sure we do not count certain plates twice.

The 3-letter vanity plates are included in the vanity plates, so they have to be subtracted from the total number..

10,648,000 + 118,778,440 + 32,768 - 10,648 = 129,448,560

User Vrnithinkumar
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