Permutations and combinations

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Permutation
A permutation is an arrangement of objects in specific order.

Note: The order of the arrangement is important!!

Permutation
Consider, four students walking toward their school entrance. How many different ways could they arrange themselves in this side-byside pattern?

Permutation
1,2,3,4 1,2,4,3 1,3,2,4 1,3,4,2 1,4,2,3 1,4,3,2 2,1,3,4 2,1,4,3 2,3,1,4 2,3,4,1 2,4,1,3 2,4,3,1 3,2,1,4 3,2,4,1 3,1,2,4 3,1,4,2 3,4,2,1 3,4,1,2 4,2,3,1 4,2,1,3 4,3,2,1 4,3,1,2 4,1,2,3 4,1,3,2

Permutation
The number of different arrangements is 24 or 4! = 4 3 2 1. There are 24 different arrangements, or permutations, of the four students walking side-by-side

Permutation
The notation for a permutation: n Pr n is the total number of objects r is the number of objects chosen (want)

Permutation
The formula for a permutation:

Or

(Remember that 0! = 1.) (Note: if n = r, as it did with the students walking side-by-side, then n Pr = n! for either formula.)

Examples
1. Compute: 5 P 5 5 4 3 2 1 = 120

2. Compute: 6 P 2 6 5 = 30 or multiply by two factors of the factorial, starting with 6

Examples
3. Find the number of ways to arrange 5 objects that are chosen from a set of 7 different objects. 7 P 5 = 76543 = 2520 or

4. What is the total number of possible 5-letter arrangements of the letters w, h, i, t, e, if each letter is used only once in each arrangement? 5 P5 = 54321 = 120 or
OR SIMPLE 5!

Last Example
5. How many different 3-digit numerals can be made from the digits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 if a digit can appear just once in a numeral? 5 P3 = 543 = 60 or

Combination

Combination/Combinatorics
A branch of mathematics that deals with the study of collection of object that satisfy the criteria. (means counting objects in the collecton)

Combination
Now suppose that we have to make a team of 11 players out of 20 players, This is an example of combination.

Combination
Combination: Picking a team of 3 people from a group of 10. C(10,3) = 10!/(7! * 3!) = 10 * 9 * 8 / (3 * 2 * 1) = 120. Permutation: Picking a President, VP and Waterboy from a group of 10. P(10,3) = 10!/7! = 10 * 9 * 8 = 720. Combination: Choosing 3 desserts from a menu of 10. C(10,3) = 120. Permutation: Listing your 3 favorite desserts, in order, from a menu of 10. P(10,3) = 720.

Tip?
Don t memorize the formulas it s better to know why they work. Combinations sounds simpler than permutations, and they are. You have fewer combinations than permutations.

principles of counting
Addition rule : If an experiment can be performed in n ways, & another experiment can be performed in m ways then either of the two experiments can be performed in (m+n) ways.

NOTE: This rule can be extended to any finite number of experiments.

Addition rule
Example: Suppose there are 3 doors in a room, 2 on one side and 1 on other side. A man want to go out from the room. Obviously he has 3 options for it. He can come out by door A or door B or door C .

principles of counting
Multiplication Rule : If a work can be done in m ways, another work can be done in n ways, then both of the operations can be performed in m x n ways.

Note: It can be extended to any finite number of operations.

Multiplication Rule
Example.: Suppose a man wants to crossout a room, which has 2 doors on one side and 1 door on other site. He has 2 x 1 = 2 ways for it.

Other principles of counting

Factorial n : The product of first n natural numbers is denoted by n!. n! = n(n-1) (n-2) ..3.2.1.

Permutation Number of permutations of n different things taken r at a time is given by: nPr = n!/(n-r)!

Now Lets try

How many different ways can you arrange the letters of the alphabet? There are 26 letters in the alphabet. 26 objects can be arranged in 26! different ways (that's more than 400 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 different arrangements!!!)

.. 2
How many different ways can you arrange the letters of the word "VISITING"? How many of these arrangements have all three I's next to each other? VISITING has 8 letters, thus there are 8! ways to arrange these letters. However, there are three I's which cannot be distinguished from each other. These three I's can be interchanged 3! different ways. Thus there are a total of 8! / 3! distinct arrangements of VISITING.

To determine how many of the arrangements of VISITING have all three I's next to each other, we may complete a similar problem: How many different ways can VSTNG[III] be arranged? Note that the three I's are treated as one character. Thus 6 different symbols can be arranged 6! times - and these arrangements are all the arrangements of VISITING where the I's are next to each other.

..3
Determine how many different five-digit numbers may be made from the digits 4, 3, 7, 8, and 9. How many of these numbers are even? How many are odd? How many start with the number 7? There are 5! different ways to arrange the five digits 4, 3, 7, 8, and 9.

How many of these numbers are even?

The even numbers are those which end in either 4 or 8. Since either 4 or 8 must be chosen for the last digit, ..there are only two choices for the last digit. In addition, ..there are four numbers left to pick from for the first digit, ..three for the second digit, ..two for the third digit, and one left for the fourth digit. This corresponds to... 2 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 48 even numbers.

How many are odd?

Similar to the previous problem, there are 3 choices for the "last digit" (3, 7, 9) to make the number odd. After that, there are 4 numbers left to choose for the first digit, 3 numbers for the second, and so on. Thus, there are... 3 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 72 odd numbers.

How many start with the number 7?

If the number must start with 7, there is only one choice for the first digit. There are four for the second digit, 3 for the third, and so on. In all, there are 1 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 24 numbers beginning with 7.

Alternatively
Similar to the previous problem, there are 3 choices for the "last digit" (3, 7, 9) to make the number odd. After that, there are 4 numbers left to choose for the first digit, 3 numbers for the second, and so on. Thus, there are... 3 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 72 odd numbers.

4
.Marion is standing on the corner of Madison Street and Commonwealth Avenue. How many different routes may she take when driving to the supermarket?

Solution
For Marion to arrive at the supermarket, she must travel east 3 blocks and north 4 blocks. One way for her to get there would be to travel east, east, north, north, north, north, east. Another way is north, east, north, east, north, north, east. No matter what though, she must travel 3 blocks east, and 4 blocks north. Therefore, we may find the total possible travel routes by finding the number of permutations of: EEENNNN These digits may be arranged 7!/ 3! * 4! = 35 different ways; therefore there are 35 ways for Marion to travel to the supermarket.