Credit Scores & how the # of credit cards impacts the score

Is it better to have a lot of credit cards with very low/no balance or very few credit cards with low/no balances? I originally heard if you have many cards - even if they don't carry a balance it counts against your score since it has the potential of putting you in extreme debt if something happens to your income and you start to rely on credit cards. Now, I am now reading on websites - don't cancel your credit cards since a ratio of a low balance to high limits on credit cards will improve your score. Which is the correct answer?

The final point is what is an acceptable number of credit cards? I have 3 MasterCards from banks, 1 MasterCard/dept store (Saks) card and a corporate American Express - is this reasonable? Thanks very much for the replies.

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I think having 2 credit cards is more than enough.

You have a limited number of credit cards and I suggest that you do not cancel any of them.

Low balance to high limits will increase your credit score and I don't believe a high number of credit lines can negatively affect your score unless you count the results of the inquires, which will drop off your credit report after 2 years.