Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Technology
Computer Engineering Department

Combination and Permutation

Advanced Mathematics II
II ‫الرياضيات المتقدمة‬

‫ علي سليم صاحب علي‬: ‫اسم الطالب‬

‫ فرع تكنولوجيا المعلومات‬/ ‫ هندسة الحاسوب‬: ‫االختصاص‬
‫ الثالثة‬: ‫المرحلة‬
‫ الصباحية‬: ‫الدراسة‬
2020 / 6 / 24 : ‫تاريخ التسليم‬
2020-2019

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Introduction
The study of permutations and combinations is concerned with determining the
number of different ways of arranging and selecting objects out of a given number
of objects, without actually listing them. There are some basic counting techniques,
which will be useful in determining the number of different ways of arranging, or
selecting objects.

Permutations and combinations, the various ways in which objects from a set may
be selected, generally without replacement, to form subsets. This selection of
subsets is called a permutation when the order of selection is a factor, a combination
when order is not a factor. By considering the ratio of the number of desired subsets
to the number of all possible subsets for many games of chance in the 17th century,
the French mathematicians Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat gave impetus to the
development of combinatorics and probability theory.

Fundamental Counting principle 1

Suppose one operation has m possible outcomes and that, a second operation has
n outcomes, the number of possible outcomes when performing the first operation
followed by the second operation is m x n

Performing one operation and another means, we multiply the number of possible
outcomes.

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What is combination and permutation?
To answer this question, let us relate with a situation. If there are 5 books in the box
then we wish to place only 3 of the 5 books in the desk. The first space can be filling
with 5 ways, 4 ways to fill the second space and for the third space we have 3 ways.
There are only 3 spaces to be filled as we wish to use only 3 books. Therefore, the
possible arrangement for these 3 books giving 5.4.3= 60 arrangements. The number
of arrangement, which is 60 in this situation, is called permutation.

Thus, permutation is an ordered arrangement of all or part of a set of items. But if

we now do not wish to arrange the books on my desk, then rather wishes to choose,
at random, any 3 of the 5 books to give to friend.

We can solve this problem by combination. As we can make several subsets of 3

books selected from the 5 books to hand over to friend. The subset of items selected
without regard to order is called combination. The number of combination of 5
things taken 3 times is written (5, 3) or 5C3. The solution is equal to 10 ways that
we can choose 3 books at random from the box. Therefore, the combination is a
selection of one or more of a set of items with no consideration given to the order
or arrangement of the items.

Overall, let us discover more about the importance of permutation and

combination in this assignment for further understanding.

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 Permutation

A permutation is an arrangement number of objects in a definite order. In other

words, permutation is an arrangement of items in a particular order. Which
mean Placement or Position matter .
There are generally two types of permutation:
 Repetition is Allowed(permutation with repetition)
 No Repetition (permutation without repetition)

Consider the three letters P, Q and R. If these letters are written down in a row,
There are six different possible arrangement:

PQR or PRQ or QPR or QRP or PRQ or RQP

If we have n different objects to arrange, then:

The total number of arraignments = n!
The expression n! read “n factorial” indicates that all the consecutive positive
integers from 1 up to and including n are to be multiplied together, and 0! is defined
to equal one.

Where:

n!=n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)…..x3 x2 x1
Ex: 6!=6x5x4x3x2x1=720

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Suppose we have 5 different objects, and we want find the number of possible
3 objects at a time. We could use the Fundamental Counting principle 1, which
refers to the Permutation with Repetition (n × n × ... (r times))

Therefore, the permutation formula (Permutation without Repetition) is:

In this case, we have to reduce the number of available choices each time.

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Where:

Where:
 n ≥ r , and n , r are whole numbers.
𝑛! 𝑛!
 If 𝑛 = 𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑃(𝑛, 𝑛) = = = 𝑛!
(𝑛−𝑛)! 0!
 The choice is made without replacement
 The order in which we choose matters

Examples:

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]7[
 Combinations

A Combination is a selection of a number of objects in any order. In other

words, combination is an arrangement of items without regard to order. It is mean
you Couldn’t Care Less about the order you are just interested in counting groups.

There are also two types of combinations:

 Repetition is Allowed: such as coins in your pocket (5,5,5,10,10)

 No Repetition: such as lottery numbers (2,14,15,27,30,33)

In making selection of number of objects from a given set, only the contents
of the group selected are important, not the order in which the items are
selected. For example, AB and BA represent the same selection; However
AB and BA represent different arrangement.

The number of ways of choosing r times from an n set without order is denoted
𝑛
C ( n , r) or ( ) and
𝑟

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Examples:

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Sometimes we have to deal with problems where objects are chosen from two
different groups. This involves choosing of objects from one group AND then
choosing a number of objects from the other group.

Notes: There are two key words when applying the Fundamental Counting
principle of counting:
1. 'AND' is understood to mean 'multiply'. Thus and= x
2. 'OR' is understood to mean 'add'. Thus or = +

For Example:

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 Application of Permutations and Combinations in Daily Life

1-Permutations

Application 1:

Counting license plates

Sometimes a license plate is limited to 3 uppercase letters (A-Z) followed by 3 digits

(0-9). For example, ABB112 would be a valid license plate. Would this format
provide enough license plates for a state with 8million vehicles?

Solution:

Since there are 26 letters of the alphabet, it follows that there are 26 ways to choose
each of the first three letters of the license plate. Similarly, there are 10 digits, so
there are 10 ways to choose each of the three digits in the license plate. Using
permutation,

26.26.26.10.10.10=17576000

Conclusion: There are 17576000 unique license plates that could be issued. This
format for license plates could accommodate 8 million vehicles.

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Application 2:

Counting birthday

To determine the number of ways that 4 people can have different birthdays. For
example, if the birthdays of 4 people are 29 February, 2 May, 30 June and 11 July,
then these dates would be one way that 4 people could have different birthday.

Solution:

Counting 29 February, which has 366 possible birthdays. The first person could
have any of the 366 possible birthdays. The second person could have any of 365
birthdays because the first person birthdays cannot be duplicated. Similarly, the
third person could have any of the 364 birthdays and the fourth person could have
any of the 363 birthdays. The total numbers of ways that 4 people could have
different birthdays equals to

P (366, 4) =366.365.364.363

=1.77x1010

Conclusion: There are 1.77x1010 ways that 4 people could have different birthdays.

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 2-Combination

Application 1:

In how many ways can a full house of aces and eight (3 aces and 2 eight) be dealt
in 5 card poker?

Solution:

The arrangement of the 3 aces or the eights does not matter, so use combination and
the multiplication principle. There are 43 ways to get aces from the 4 aces in the
deck and 42 ways to get 2 eight. By the multiplication principle, the number of ways
to get 3 aces and 2 eight is:

(4 , 3). (4 , 2) = 4.6

=24

Conclusion: There are 24 ways a full house of aces and eight (3 aces and 2 eight)
can be dealt in 5 card poker.

Application 2:

Calculating the number of ways to pack the gift

Gifts packs consisting of 6 items each are to be prepared for a particular

Children’s Day celebration. If the items are chosen from 4 different pencil cases
and 5 different boxes of watercolors. What is the number of ways that the gift packs
can be prepared if each one must consist of not more than 3 boxes of watercolors?

Solution:

(4C3 x 5C4) + (4C4 x 5C2) = (4 x 10) + (1 x 10) = 40 + 10 = 50

Conclusion: There are 50 ways that the gifts can be prepared.

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The deference between Permutation and combination

The concepts of and differences between permutations and combinations can be

illustrated by examination of all the different ways in which a pair of objects can
be selected from five distinguishable objects—such as the letters A, B, C, D, and
E. If both the letters selected and the order of selection are considered.

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 Conclusion

Today, mathematics is used throughout the world in many fields, including natural
science, engineering medicine and the social sciences such as economics. Applied
mathematics, the application of mathematics to such fields, inspires and makes use
of new mathematical discoveries and sometimes lead to the development of entirely
new disciplines.

Permutation and combination form one of the oldest parts of group

theory. Through the ubiquity of group actions and the concrete representations,
which they afford, both finite and infinite permutation groups arise in many parts of
mathematics and continue to be a lively topic of research in their own right.

Little did we know, we use permutation and combination all the time without
realizing it and they are an integral part of modern life. There are many benefits
brought by these theories.

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1. Pirnot, Thomas L. (2007). Mathematics All Around (Third edition), Canada:

Pearson Education Inc.

2. Sullivan, Michael (1999). Precalculus (Fifth edition), Canada: Prentice-

Hall, Inc.

3. Rockswold, Gary K. (2002). Precalculus through Modeling and

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4. Lial, Margaret L. & Hungerford, Thomas W. (1999). Mathematics with

Applications in the Management, Natural, and Social Sciences (7th edition),
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5. Waner, Stefan & Costenoble, Steven R. (2007). Finite Mathematics and

Applied Calculus (Fourth edition), United States of America: Thomson
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Thomson Learning

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(2005). Finite Mathematics (Eighth edition), Canada: Pearson Education,
Inc.

]16[
Websites:
1. National University of Ireland Galway, Math Department.
https://www.nuigalway.ie/
2. Vancouver community college, learning center (2013)
https://library.vcc.ca/

2. Peter Danziger, Carleton University.

https://math.ryerson.ca/~danziger/

3. https://keydifferences.com/
4. https://calcworkshop.com/
5. https://www.mathsisfun.com/

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