Probability and Combinatorics

Olivia Kucan // Carlee Hollenbeck

History
What are Probability and
Combinatorics?
Probabilityis the measure of the likeliness that an event
will occur.Probabilityis quantified as a number between
0 and 1 (where 0 indicates impossibility and 1 indicates
certainty). The higher theprobabilityof an event, the
more certain we are that the event will occur.

Combinatorics is the branch of mathematics dealing

with combinations of objects belonging to a finite set in
accordance with certain constraints, such as those of
graph theory (the application of graphs).

Blaise Pascal

Combinatorics was seen in

history around the year of
300 B.C. in theBhagabati
Sutra, aJain (Jainism) text.
Then Pingala wrote about
combinatorics in the 2nd
century B.C.It is often argued
that combinatorics was
discovered by Blaise Pascal
and Pierre de Fermat, who
discovered many connections
with the theory of probability.
Probability is said to have
initially began in a gambling
dispute in 1654 that
happened between two
mathematicians, Blaise Pascal
and Pierre de Fermant. They
created a mathematical
theory of probability by
throwing dice 24 times and
betting on the number
amount of times two sixes

were to show up.

Combinatorics
Combinatorics often
confused with
permutations. The two
concepts are extremely
similar, except that with permutations,
the details and specific order in which
things show up matter. Each have their
own formulas in which to solve the
answer. In both formulas -

These are the formulas used if solving for

combinations and permutations. Check
out the examples below for explanations
of the application of this formula.

nrepresents the totalnumber of items

in the sampled group.
r represents the number of items that
are to be selected from the sampled
group.

Permutations can be remembered as a

way of ordering objects while
remembering the specifics. Whereas
combinatorics or combinations can be
remembered as ways of choosing
objects in a less strict and defined way.

Examples:
A)

B)Lets say that for my lottery company, you choose a total

of six numbers. Each time you select, you are able to
choose any number ranging from 1-49. The thing is, you
have to choose the correct numbers in the exact order in
which they appear when chosen. Here is where you would
input the permutation formula.
49 49
P(49x6) = ------ // P(49x6) = ------ =10,068,347,520
49 - 6 43
This means that your chances are only 1 in over 10 billion

C) The permutation of a
group of friends: Alice,
Daniel, and Elizabeth is
different than that of the
combination of Daniel,
Elizabeth, Alice.

Probability
Probability is the measure of likeliness that
something, or rather an event, will occur. The
higher the probability, the more likely it will occur.
Probability is based on a scale from 0 to 1. If you
were to flip a coin, the probability that it will land
on heads is 0.50 or 50% because you have a 1 in 2
chance. If you have 6blue and 2red marbles in a
bag and you were to choose one at random, the probability that that marble will
be red is around 0.25 or 25% because you have a 2 in 8 chance. because there are
8 marbles total. A pretty slim, but not impossible chance of pulling a red marble.
Pretty simple, right?

Example:
The formula for figuring out the
probability of an occurrence is
pretty simple:

Well, it's a little more

complicated than that, but that's
the general idea. The more
mathematical formula is a bit
more complicated. It is very
similar to that of combination
and permutations.
Although I had a fairly good
understanding of probability, I had
no idea what combinatorics was, now
its simple! Of course I have more to
learn and explore. Combinations and
probability is in a lot of things that I
hadn't realized before.
3