PERMUTATION

An ordering of n objects.
An arrangement of n objects
INTRODUCTION

AND

DEFINITION

NOTE: Permutation is also called ordered combination

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2 NOTE: Combinations are subsets of permutation.
 PERMUTATION EXAMPLES

Case 1 : Your dad wants you to open your Facebook account in front of him. And your password
is: IAM@MAN.
You can’t open your account with wrong password “MAN@IAM”. That means the password order is
taken into account. If order does matter it is a problem of Permutation.

Case 2: Suppose you have your ‘Good Friday’ at your home. And, you invite 3 friends for the gathering.
And, your dining table also have 3 seats. So, how many ways you can arrange 3
friends in 3 chairs?
Suppose there are three people “A, B and C” and three seats available are ‘S1, S2 and S3′. And the
seats are in the sequence: S1 S2 S3
 S1 S2 S 3
 A B C 
 
 A C B 
 
B C A
B A C 
 
C A B 
C A
 B 

No of ways in which three friends can be seated = 3! ways

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
 Case 3: Let’s take another scenario, If you invite 5 guests where you have only 3 seats in
your dinning table. S1 S2 S3

A B C

A B C D E B C D E C D E

5 Ways 4 Ways 3 Ways

(5 ∗ 4 ∗ 3 ∗ 2 ∗ 1) n!
= = P(n,r) = nPr
(2 ∗ 1) (n−r)!

S1: 5 possibilities as 5 people can sit in first seat.

S2: As one guest is already in seat one, 4 guests haven’t been seated yet. 4 possibilities
S3: Still 3 guests are standing. So, 3 possibilities for 3 people.
Then total possibilities = 5 * 4 * 3 = 60

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 EXERCISE

Exercise:
a. How many ways can the letters in the word PENCIL be arranged?
b. How many ways can you order the letters in KEYBOARD if K and Y must always
be kept together?

(a) 6! (b) 2! * 7 !
16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
 Exercise :

You are considering 10 different colleges. Before you decide to apply to

the colleges, you want to visit some or all of them. In how many orders
can you visit.
(a) 6 of the colleges and
(b) all 10 colleges?

Answer:

a. The number of permutations of 10 objects taken 6 at a time is: 10P6 = 151,200.

b. The number of permutations of 10 objects taken 10 at a time is: 10P10 = 10! =

3,628,800

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 Twelve skiers are competing in the final round of the Olympic freestyle skiing aerial
competition.
a. In how many different ways can the skiers finish the competition?
(Assume there are no ties.)
b. In how many different ways can 3 of the skiers finish first,
second, and third to win the gold, silver, and bronze medals?

SOLUTION

a. There are 12! different ways that the skiers can finish the competition.
12! = 12 • 11 • 10 • 9 • 8 • 7 • 6 • 5 • 4 • 3 • 2 • 1 = 479,001,600

b. Any of the 12 skiers can finish first, then any of the remaining 11 skiers can finish
second, and finally any of the remaining 10 skiers can finish third.
So, the number of ways that the skiers can win the medals is: 12 • 11 • 10 = 1320
16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
 Example

Let Say we have 8 contestants:

Angel
Bob
Charlie
David
Eve
Frank
Giftson
Haman

How many ways can be award a 1st , 2nd and 3rd place prize among the eight
contestants? (Gold /Silver/Bronze)

Suppose if A wins gold medal ABCDEFGH ( 8 Choices)

If B wins silver BCDEFGH ( 7 Choices ) and If C wins silver CDEFGH (6 Choices)

Total possibilities = 8 * 7 * 6= 336 ways

nPr = 8!/(8-3)! = 336

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
 Exercise :

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 Class Work :

List all three letter permutations of the letters in the word HAND

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 Some license plates consist of 3 letters followed by 3 numbers. How many different
license plates are possible if:
a. if there are NO Restrictions
b. if the letters must be DIFFERENT
c. if the letters are different and the first digit can't be 0

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 In how many ways can all of the letters of the word PROBLEM be
arranged ?

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
 Exercise :

There are 6 people in a race. In how many ways can they finish first,
second or third ?

Answer :

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 Restricted Permutation

How many ways can 4 rock, 5 pop, & 6 classical albums be ordered if all albums of the same genre must
be kept together?

How many ways can the letters in OBTUSE be ordered if all the vowels must be kept together? 4! 3! = 144
Example: How many words can be formed with the letters of the word ‘OMEGA’ when

(i) ‘O’ and ‘A’ occupying end places.

(ii) ‘E’ being always in the middle
(iii) Vowels occupying odd-places
(iv) Vowels being never together

Answer:
When ‘O’ and ‘A’ occupying end-places.
Here (OA) are fixed, hence M, E, G can be arranged in 3! ways .
But (O,A) can be arranged themselves is 2! ways.
Total number of words = 3! x 2! = 12 ways.
16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
(ii) When ‘E’ is fixed in the middle. Hence four-letter O.M.G.A. can be arranged in 4! i.e. 24 ways.

(iii) Three vowels (O,E,A,) can be arranged in the odd places (1st , 3rd and 5th ) = 3! ways.

And two consonants (M,G,) can be arranged in the even-place (2nd , 4th ) = 2 ! ways

Total number of ways= 3! x 2! = 12 ways.

(iv) Total number of words = 5! = 120!

If all the vowels come together, then we have: (O.E.A.), M,G These can be arranged in 3! ways

But (O,E.A.) can be arranged themselves in 3! ways.

when vowels come together = 3! x 3! = 36 ways

Number of ways, when vowels being never-together = 120-36 = 84 ways.

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2
 REPEATED LETTERS

Exercise :

Find the number of distinguishable permutations of the letters in

(a) OHIO and
(b) MISSISSIPPI.

Answer:

a) 4 ! / 2 ! = 12.

b) 11 ! / 4! * 4! * 2! = 34,650.

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 How many two digit numbers can be formed using the digits 0 , 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 if:
a. Repetitions are allowed
b. Repetitions are not allowed

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

 EXCEL PERMUT FUNCTION

The Excel PERMUT function calculates the number of permutations of a specified

number of objects from a set of objects.

The format of the function is :

PERMUT ( number , number_chosen)

Where number is the total number of objects

number_chosen is the number of objects in each permutations ( i.e., the number

selected from the total set)

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2

16MA1004 - Probability and Statistics : Class 2