Permutations and Combinations Worksheet

GCM 3142 STATISTICS
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3.0 PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
If the order doesn't matter, it is a combination.
If the order does matter it is a permutation.

Practice
Determine whether each of the following
situations is a combination or permutation.
1. Creating an access code for a computer
site using any 8 alphabet letters.
2. Determining how many different ways you
can elect a Chairman and Co-Chairman of
a committee if you have 10 people to
choose from.
3. Voting to allow 10 new members to join a
club when there are 25 that would like to
join.
4. Choosing 3 toppings for a pizza if there are
9 choices.

3.1 PERMUTATIONS
A permutation is used when re-arranging the
elements of the set creates a new situation.

Example Problem for Permutation:
How many ways could we get 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
place winners in a race with the following 4
people? Jay, Sue, Kim, and Bob.
**Note: since winning first place is different than
winning second place, the set {Jay, Sue, Kim}
would mean something different than {Jay, Kim,
Sue}. Here is why they are different: {Jay, Sue,
Kim} indicates that Jay won 1st , Sue won 2nd,
and Kim won 3rd . {Jay, Kim, Sue} indicates that
Jay won 1st, Kim won 2nd, and Sue won 3
rd
.
Here are all of the possibilities for 1st, 2nd, 3rd
in that order:
There are 24 permutations.
To determine the number of permutations:
nPr = !()!
Where n represents the total number of things to
choose from and r represents the number of
things to be selected. In the previous problem,
4P3 = 4!(43)! =43211! = 24

Sue, Kim, Bob Sue, Bob, Kim Sue, Jay, Kim
Sue, Kim, Jay Sue, Jay, Bob Sue, Bob, Jay
Kim, Sue, Bob Kim, Bob, Sue Kim, Jay, Sue
Kim, Sue, Jay Kim, Jay, Bob Kim, Bob, Jay
Bob, Jay, Sue Bob, Sue, Jay Bob, Jay, Kim
Bob, Kim, Jay Bob, Sue, Kim Bob, Kim, Sue
Jay, Sue, Kim Jay, Kim, Sue Jay, Sue, Bob
Jay, Bob, Sue Jay, Kim, Bob Jay, Bob, Kim

3.2 COMBINATIONS
Suppose that you can invite 3 friends to go with
you to a concert. If you choose Jay, Ted, and
Ken, then this is no different from choosing Ted,
Ken, and Jay. The order that you choose the
three names of your friends is not important.
Hence, this is a combination problem.

Example Problem for Combination:
Suppose that you can invite 3 friends to go with
you to a concert. You have 5 friends that want to
go, so you decide to write the 5 names on slips
of paper and place them in a bowl. Then you
randomly choose 3 names from the bowl. If the
five people are Jay, Ted, Cal, Bob, and Ken,
then write down all the possible ways that you
could choose a group of 3 people.

Here are all of the possible combinations of 3:
Jay, Ted, Cal Ted, Cal, Bob Cal, Bob, Ken
Jay, Ted, Bob Ted, Cal, Ken Jay, Ted, Ken
GCM 3142 STATISTICS
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Ted, Bob, Ken Jay, Cal, Bob Jay, Cal, Ken
Jay, Bob, Ken

To determine the number of combinations:
nCr = !()! !
Where n represents the total number of things to
choose from and r represents the number of
things to be selected. In the previous problem,
n = 5 and r = 3
5C3 = 5!(53)!3! = 54321(21)321 = 10

Worksheet
1. How many ways can you arrange the letters
of the word FACTOR?
2. How many ways can you choose two
jellybeans from a bag of 15?
3. How many ways can five different textbooks
be arranged on a shelf?
4. How many groups of 3 toys can a child
choose to take on a vacation from a toy box
containing 11 toys?
5. How many different sets of 6 questions for
a test can be chosen from a file containing
22 questions?
6. How many ways can a teacher select 5
students form a class of 23 students to
create a bulletin board display?
7. There are seven children to be lined up in a
straight line for a photograph.
a) How many different ways are possible?
b) How many different ways are possible if
Sally must be in the middle?
c) How many different ways are possible if
Ahmed is on the far left?
d) How many different ways are possible if
Hannah and Brian must be together?
8. A video store has 27 new release movie
posters. How many ways can the manager
choose 8 for a promotion that gives them
away to the same person?
9. How many ways can 12 volleyball teams
members line up if the captain and
assistant captain must be together?
10. A club has 11 members.
a) How many different 2 member
committees could be formed from this
club?
b) How many different 3 member
committees could be formed from this
club?
c) How many ways could a president,
treasurer and secretary be chosen?
11. How many ways can 7 people be arranged
around a circular table?
12. Mr. Wilson has a briefcase with a three digit
combination lock. He can set the
combination himself. His favourite digits are
3,4,5,6 and 7. Each digit can be used at
most once. He his only going to use these
numbers for his combinations.
a) How many different combinations are
possible?
b) How many of these combinations would
be odd?
c) How many of these combinations are
even?
13. There are 15 technicians and 11 chemists
working in a research lab. They need to
form a 5 person safety committee. In how
many ways can this committee be formed if
a) May be chosen in any way?
b) May be all technicians?
c) May be all chemists?

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