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Practice By Tag: The Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion

Question: 2017 Winter Midterm - 6
1 . Let $n \geq 4$ be an integer and consider strings of length $n$ consisting of the characters $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$. How many such strings are there that start with $ab$ or start with $abc$?
(a)
$4^{n-1}$
(b)
$4^{n-2}$
(c)
$4^{n}$
(d)
$4^{n-3}$