Different Number of Posts in Archive View

Ok, this is possibly a dumb question, but I’m kind of curious and after searching I’m mostly just confused. But is it possible to have a different number of posts in say an archive (month or category) view, than on the main page of a blog?

I’ve seen several unanswered questions regarding, for instance, one post on the main page and then just a never-ending category view. (Which I don’t know how that’s done either…?)