If a website allows users to assign 5-star ratings to products, and a user rates 3 products, which method prevents overcounting when calculating the total possible rating combinations?

💡 Explanation

Applying the inclusion-exclusion principle corrects for overcounting rating combinations; this is because it systematically adds and subtracts overlaps. Therefore, the inclusion-exclusion principle prevents overcounting, rather than pigeonhole (which guarantees occupancy), dynamic programming (which optimizes), or greedy algorithms (which make local choices).

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