There are 5 books on Mathematics and 6 books on Physics in a book shop. In how many ways can a student buy: (i) a Mathematics book and a Physics book (ii) either a Mathematics book or a Physics book?
There are 5 books on Mathematics and 6 books on Physics in a book shop. In how many ways can a student buy: (i) a Mathematics book and a Physics book (ii) either a Mathematics book or a Physics book?

Solution:

(i) Given: there are five mathematics books and six physics books.

The number of ways to purchase one mathematics book is  5C1. Similarly, there are 6C1 methods to purchase one physics book. As a result, a student can buy a Mathematics and Physics book in 5C1 × 6C1 = 5 × 6 = 30 different methods.

(ii) Given: there is a total of 11 books.

So, in order to purchase either a Mathematics or a Physics book, only one of the eleven books must be purchased.

As a result, there are 11C1 = 11 ways for a student to purchase either a Mathematics or a Physics book.