A simpler way to correct the overcounting is to integrate over all of phase space but to reduce the weight of each phase in order to exactly compensate the overcounting. This is accomplished by the factor introduced above, which is a whole number that represents how many ways a physical state can be represented in phase space. Its value does not vary with the continuous canonical coordinates, so overcounting can be corrected simply by integrating over the full range of canonical coordinates, then dividing the result by the overcounting factor. However, does vary strongly with discrete variables such as numbers of particles, and so it must be applied before summing over particle numbers.