Q1:1,4,5,7

Q2:9
Q3:1,4,5,7
Q4:9
Q5:1,4,6,8
Q6:10
Q7:1,4,6,8
Q8:10
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the mathematics of selecting part of a collection. For other
uses, see Combination (disambiguation).
"COMBIN" redirects here. For other uses, see Combin (disambiguation).
In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct
members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations).
For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are
three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set: an apple and a pear; an
apple and an orange; or a pear and an orange. More formally, a k-combination of a
set S is a subset of k distinct elements of S. So, two combinations are identical
if and only if each combination has the same members. (The arrangement of the
members in each set does not matter.) If the set has n elements, the number of k-
combinations, denoted by
𝐶
(
𝑛
,
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle C(n,k)} or
𝐶
𝑘
𝑛
{\displaystyle C_{k}^{n}}, is equal to the binomial coefficient

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
𝑛
(
𝑛
−
1
)
⋯
(
𝑛
−
𝑘
+
1
)
𝑘
(
𝑘
−
1
)
⋯
1
,
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={\frac {n(n-1)\dotsb (n-k+1)}{k(k-1)\dotsb 1}},}

which can be written using factorials as

𝑛
!
𝑘
!
(
𝑛
−
𝑘
)
!
{\displaystyle \textstyle {\frac {n!}{k!(n-k)!}}} whenever
𝑘
≤
𝑛
{\displaystyle k\leq n}, and which is zero when
𝑘
>
𝑛
{\displaystyle k>n}. This formula can be derived from the fact that each k-
combination of a set S of n members has
𝑘
!
{\displaystyle k!} permutations so
𝑃
𝑘
𝑛
=
𝐶
𝑘
𝑛
×
𝑘
!
{\displaystyle P_{k}^{n}=C_{k}^{n}\times k!} or
𝐶
𝑘
𝑛
=
𝑃
𝑘
𝑛
/
𝑘
!
{\displaystyle C_{k}^{n}=P_{k}^{n}/k!}.[1] The set of all k-combinations of a set S
is often denoted by
(
𝑆
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle \textstyle {\binom {S}{k}}}.

A combination is a combination of n things taken k at a time without repetition. To

refer to combinations in which repetition is allowed, the terms k-combination with
repetition, k-multiset,[2] or k-selection,[3] are often used.[4] If, in the above
example, it were possible to have two of any one kind of fruit there would be 3
more 2-selections: one with two apples, one with two oranges, and one with two
pears.

Although the set of three fruits was small enough to write a complete list of
combinations, this becomes impractical as the size of the set increases. For
example, a poker hand can be described as a 5-combination (k = 5) of cards from a
52 card deck (n = 52). The 5 cards of the hand are all distinct, and the order of
cards in the hand does not matter. There are 2,598,960 such combinations, and the
chance of drawing any one hand at random is 1 / 2,598,960.

Number of k-combinations
Main article: Binomial coefficient
"COMBIN" redirects here. For other uses, see Combin (disambiguation).

3-element subsets of a 5-element set

The number of k-combinations from a given set S of n elements is often denoted in
elementary combinatorics texts by
𝐶
(
𝑛
,
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle C(n,k)}, or by a variation such as
𝐶
𝑘
𝑛
{\displaystyle C_{k}^{n}},
𝑛
𝐶
𝑘
{\displaystyle {}_{n}C_{k}},
𝑛
𝐶
𝑘
{\displaystyle {}^{n}C_{k}},
𝐶
𝑛
,
𝑘
{\displaystyle C_{n,k}} or even
𝐶
𝑛
𝑘
{\displaystyle C_{n}^{k}}[5] (the last form is standard in French, Romanian,
Russian, and Chinese texts.[6][7] The same number however occurs in many other
mathematical contexts, where it is denoted by
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}} (often read as "n choose k"); notably it occurs as
a coefficient in the binomial formula, hence its name binomial coefficient. One can
define
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}} for all natural numbers k at once by the relation

(
1
+
𝑋
)
𝑛
=
∑
𝑘
≥
0
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
𝑋
𝑘
,
{\displaystyle (1+X)^{n}=\sum _{k\geq 0}{\binom {n}{k}}X^{k},}

from which it is clear that

(
𝑛
0
)
=
(
𝑛
𝑛
)
=
1
,
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{0}}={\binom {n}{n}}=1,}

and further

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
0
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}=0}

for k > n.

To see that these coefficients count k-combinations from S, one can first consider
a collection of n distinct variables Xs labeled by the elements s of S, and expand
the product over all elements of S:

∏
𝑠
∈
𝑆
(
1
+
𝑋
𝑠
)
;
{\displaystyle \prod _{s\in S}(1+X_{s});}

it has 2n distinct terms corresponding to all the subsets of S, each subset giving
the product of the corresponding variables Xs. Now setting all of the Xs equal to
the unlabeled variable X, so that the product becomes (1 + X)n, the term for each
k-combination from S becomes Xk, so that the coefficient of that power in the
result equals the number of such k-combinations.

Binomial coefficients can be computed explicitly in various ways. To get all of

them for the expansions up to (1 + X)n, one can use (in addition to the basic cases
already given) the recursion relation

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
(
𝑛
−
1
𝑘
−
1
)
+
(
𝑛
−
1
𝑘
)
,
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={\binom {n-1}{k-1}}+{\binom {n-1}{k}},}

for 0 < k < n, which follows from (1 + X)n = (1 + X)n − 1(1 + X); this leads to the
construction of Pascal's triangle.

For determining an individual binomial coefficient, it is more practical to use the

formula

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
𝑛
(
𝑛
−
1
)
(
𝑛
−
2
)
⋯
(
𝑛
−
𝑘
+
1
)
𝑘
!
.
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={\frac {n(n-1)(n-2)\cdots (n-k+1)}{k!}}.}

The numerator gives the number of k-permutations of n, i.e., of sequences of k

distinct elements of S, while the denominator gives the number of such k-
permutations that give the same k-combination when the order is ignored.

When k exceeds n/2, the above formula contains factors common to the numerator and
the denominator, and canceling them out gives the relation

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
(
𝑛
𝑛
−
𝑘
)
,
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={\binom {n}{n-k}},}

for 0 ≤ k ≤ n. This expresses a symmetry that is evident from the binomial formula,
and can also be understood in terms of k-combinations by taking the complement of
such a combination, which is an (n − k)-combination.

Finally there is a formula which exhibits this symmetry directly, and has the merit
of being easy to remember:

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
𝑛
!
𝑘
!
(
𝑛
−
𝑘
)
!
,
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={\frac {n!}{k!(n-k)!}},}

where n! denotes the factorial of n. It is obtained from the previous formula by

multiplying denominator and numerator by (n − k)!, so it is certainly
computationally less efficient than that formula.

The last formula can be understood directly, by considering the n! permutations of

all the elements of S. Each such permutation gives a k-combination by selecting its
first k elements. There are many duplicate selections: any combined permutation of
the first k elements among each other, and of the final (n − k) elements among each
other produces the same combination; this explains the division in the formula.

From the above formulas follow relations between adjacent numbers in Pascal's
triangle in all three directions:

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
{
(
𝑛
𝑘
−
1
)
𝑛
−
𝑘
+
1
𝑘
if
𝑘
>
0
(
𝑛
−
1
𝑘
)
𝑛
𝑛
−
𝑘
if
𝑘
<
𝑛
(
𝑛
−
1
𝑘
−
1
)
𝑛
𝑘
if
𝑛
,
𝑘
>
0
.
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={\begin{cases}{\binom {n}{k-1}}{\frac {n-k+1}{k}}&\
quad {\text{if }}k>0\\{\binom {n-1}{k}}{\frac {n}{n-k}}&\quad {\text{if }}k<n\\{\
binom {n-1}{k-1}}{\frac {n}{k}}&\quad {\text{if }}n,k>0\end{cases}}.}

Together with the basic cases

(
𝑛
0
)
=
1
=
(
𝑛
𝑛
)
{\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{0}}=1={\tbinom {n}{n}}}, these allow successive
computation of respectively all numbers of combinations from the same set (a row in
Pascal's triangle), of k-combinations of sets of growing sizes, and of combinations
with a complement of fixed size n − k.

Example of counting combinations

As a specific example, one can compute the number of five-card hands possible from
a standard fifty-two card deck as:[8]

(
52
5
)
=
52
×
51
×
50
×
49
×
48
5
×
4
×
3
×
2
×
1
=
311,875,200
120
=
2,598,960.
{\displaystyle {52 \choose 5}={\frac {52\times 51\times 50\times 49\times 48}{5\
times 4\times 3\times 2\times 1}}={\frac {311{,}875{,}200}{120}}=2{,}598{,}960.}

Alternatively one may use the formula in terms of factorials and cancel the factors
in the numerator against parts of the factors in the denominator, after which only
multiplication of the remaining factors is required:
(
52
5
)
=
52
!
5
!
47
!
=
52
×
51
×
50
×
49
×
48
×
47
!
5
×
4
×
3
×
2
×
1
×
47
!
=
52
×
51
×
50
×
49
×
48
5
×
4
×
3
×
2
=
(
26
×
2
)
×
(
17
×
3
)
×
(
10
×
5
)
×
49
×
(
12
×
4
)
5
×
4
×
3
×
2
=
26
×
17
×
10
×
49
×
12
=
2,598,960.
{\displaystyle {\begin{alignedat}{2}{52 \choose 5}&={\frac {52!}{5!47!}}\\[5pt]&={\
frac {52\times 51\times 50\times 49\times 48\times {\cancel {47!}}}{5\times 4\times
3\times 2\times {\cancel {1}}\times {\cancel {47!}}}}\\[5pt]&={\frac {52\times 51\
times 50\times 49\times 48}{5\times 4\times 3\times 2}}\\[5pt]&={\frac {(26\times
{\cancel {2}})\times (17\times {\cancel {3}})\times (10\times {\cancel {5}})\times
49\times (12\times {\cancel {4}})}{{\cancel {5}}\times {\cancel {4}}\times {\cancel
{3}}\times {\cancel {2}}}}\\[5pt]&={26\times 17\times 10\times 49\times 12}\\
[5pt]&=2{,}598{,}960.\end{alignedat}}}
Another alternative computation, equivalent to the first, is based on writing

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
(
𝑛
−
0
)
1
×
(
𝑛
−
1
)
2
×
(
𝑛
−
2
)
3
×
⋯
×
(
𝑛
−
(
𝑘
−
1
)
)
𝑘
,
{\displaystyle {n \choose k}={\frac {(n-0)}{1}}\times {\frac {(n-1)}{2}}\times {\
frac {(n-2)}{3}}\times \cdots \times {\frac {(n-(k-1))}{k}},}

which gives

(
52
5
)
=
52
1
×
51
2
×
50
3
×
49
4
×
48
5
=
2,598,960.
{\displaystyle {52 \choose 5}={\frac {52}{1}}\times {\frac {51}{2}}\times {\frac
{50}{3}}\times {\frac {49}{4}}\times {\frac {48}{5}}=2{,}598{,}960.}

When evaluated in the following order, 52 ÷ 1 × 51 ÷ 2 × 50 ÷ 3 × 49 ÷ 4 × 48 ÷ 5,

this can be computed using only integer arithmetic. The reason is that when each
division occurs, the intermediate result that is produced is itself a binomial
coefficient, so no remainders ever occur.

Using the symmetric formula in terms of factorials without performing

simplifications gives a rather extensive calculation:

(
52
5
)
=
𝑛
!
𝑘
!
(
𝑛
−
𝑘
)
!
=
52
!
5
!
(
52
−
5
)
!
=
52
!
5
!
47
!
=
80
,
658
,
175
,
170
,
943
,
878
,
571
,
660
,
636
,
856
,
403
,
766
,
975
,
289
,
505
,
440
,
883
,
277
,
824
,
000
,
000
,
000
,
000
120
×
258
,
623
,
241
,
511
,
168
,
180
,
642
,
964
,
355
,
153
,
611
,
979
,
969
,
197
,
632
,
389
,
120
,
000
,
000
,
000
=
2,598,960.
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{52 \choose 5}&={\frac {n!}{k!(n-k)!}}={\frac {52!}
{5!(52-5)!}}={\frac {52!}{5!47!}}\\[6pt]&={\tfrac
{80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000
,000,000}{120\times
258,623,241,511,168,180,642,964,355,153,611,979,969,197,632,389,120,000,000,000}}\\
[6pt]&=2{,}598{,}960.\end{aligned}}}

Enumerating k-combinations
One can enumerate all k-combinations of a given set S of n elements in some fixed
order, which establishes a bijection from an interval of
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}} integers with the set of those k-combinations.
Assuming S is itself ordered, for instance S = { 1, 2, ..., n }, there are two
natural possibilities for ordering its k-combinations: by comparing their smallest
elements first (as in the illustrations above) or by comparing their largest
elements first. The latter option has the advantage that adding a new largest
element to S will not change the initial part of the enumeration, but just add the
new k-combinations of the larger set after the previous ones. Repeating this
process, the enumeration can be extended indefinitely with k-combinations of ever
larger sets. If moreover the intervals of the integers are taken to start at 0,
then the k-combination at a given place i in the enumeration can be computed easily
from i, and the bijection so obtained is known as the combinatorial number system.
It is also known as "rank"/"ranking" and "unranking" in computational mathematics.
[9][10]

There are many ways to enumerate k combinations. One way is to track k index
numbers of the elements selected, starting with {0 .. k−1} (zero-based) or {1 .. k}
(one-based) as the first allowed k-combination. Then, repeatedly move to the next
allowed k-combination by incrementing the smallest index number for which this
would not create two equal index numbers, at the same time resetting all smaller
index numbers to their initial values.
Number of combinations with repetition
See also: Multiset coefficient
A k-combination with repetitions, or k-multicombination, or multisubset of size k
from a set S of size n is given by a set of k not necessarily distinct elements of
S, where order is not taken into account: two sequences define the same multiset if
one can be obtained from the other by permuting the terms. In other words, it is a
sample of k elements from a set of n elements allowing for duplicates (i.e., with
replacement) but disregarding different orderings (e.g. {2,1,2} = {1,2,2}).
Associate an index to each element of S and think of the elements of S as types of
objects, then we can let
𝑥
𝑖
{\displaystyle x_{i}} denote the number of elements of type i in a multisubset. The
number of multisubsets of size k is then the number of nonnegative integer (so
allowing zero) solutions of the Diophantine equation:[11]

𝑥
1
+
𝑥
2
+
…
+
𝑥
𝑛
=
𝑘
.
{\displaystyle x_{1}+x_{2}+\ldots +x_{n}=k.}

If S has n elements, the number of such k-multisubsets is denoted by

(
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
)
,
{\displaystyle \left(\!\!{\binom {n}{k}}\!\!\right),}

a notation that is analogous to the binomial coefficient which counts k-subsets.

This expression, n multichoose k,[12] can also be given in terms of binomial
coefficients:

(
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
)
=
(
𝑛
+
𝑘
−
1
𝑘
)
.
{\displaystyle \left(\!\!{\binom {n}{k}}\!\!\right)={\binom {n+k-1}{k}}.}

This relationship can be easily proved using a representation known as stars and
bars.[13]

Proof

Bijection between 3-subsets of a 7-set (left) and 3-multisets with elements from a
5-set (right).
This illustrates that
(
7
3
)
=
(
(
5
3
)
)
{\textstyle {\binom {7}{3}}=\left(\!\!{\binom {5}{3}}\!\!\right)}.
As with binomial coefficients, there are several relationships between these
multichoose expressions. For example, for
𝑛
≥
1
,
𝑘
≥
0
{\displaystyle n\geq 1,k\geq 0},

(
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
)
=
(
(
𝑘
+
1
𝑛
−
1
)
)
.
{\displaystyle \left(\!\!{\binom {n}{k}}\!\!\right)=\left(\!\!{\binom {k+1}{n-
1}}\!\!\right).}This identity follows from interchanging the stars and bars in the
above representation.[15]

Example of counting multisubsets

For example, if you have four types of donuts (n = 4) on a menu to choose from and
you want three donuts (k = 3), the number of ways to choose the donuts with
repetition can be calculated as

(
(
4
3
)
)
=
(
4
+
3
−
1
3
)
=
(
6
3
)
=
6
×
5
×
4
3
×
2
×
1
=
20.
{\displaystyle \left(\!\!{\binom {4}{3}}\!\!\right)={\binom {4+3-1}{3}}={\binom {6}
{3}}={\frac {6\times 5\times 4}{3\times 2\times 1}}=20.}

This result can be verified by listing all the 3-multisubsets of the set S =
{1,2,3,4}. This is displayed in the following table.[16] The second column lists
the donuts you actually chose, the third column shows the nonnegative integer
solutions
[
𝑥
1
,
𝑥
2
,
𝑥
3
,
𝑥
4
]
{\displaystyle [x_{1},x_{2},x_{3},x_{4}]} of the equation
𝑥
1
+
𝑥
2
+
𝑥
3
+
𝑥
4
=
3
{\displaystyle x_{1}+x_{2}+x_{3}+x_{4}=3} and the last column gives the stars and
bars representation of the solutions.[17]

No. 3-multiset Eq. solution Stars and bars

1 {1,1,1} [3,0,0,0]
★
★
★
|
|
|
{\displaystyle \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar |||}
2 {1,1,2} [2,1,0,0]
★
★
|
★
|
|
{\displaystyle \bigstar \bigstar |\bigstar ||}
3 {1,1,3} [2,0,1,0]
★
★
|
|
★
|
{\displaystyle \bigstar \bigstar ||\bigstar |}
4 {1,1,4} [2,0,0,1]
★
★
|
|
|
★{\displaystyle \bigstar \bigstar |||\bigstar }
5 {1,2,2} [1,2,0,0]
★
|
★
★
|
|
{\displaystyle \bigstar |\bigstar \bigstar ||}
6 {1,2,3} [1,1,1,0]
★
|
★
|
★
|
{\displaystyle \bigstar |\bigstar |\bigstar |}
7 {1,2,4} [1,1,0,1]
★
|
★
|
|
★{\displaystyle \bigstar |\bigstar ||\bigstar }
8 {1,3,3} [1,0,2,0]
★
|
|
★
★
|
{\displaystyle \bigstar ||\bigstar \bigstar |}
9 {1,3,4} [1,0,1,1]
★
|
|
★
|
★{\displaystyle \bigstar ||\bigstar |\bigstar }
10 {1,4,4} [1,0,0,2]
★
|
|
|
★
★{\displaystyle \bigstar |||\bigstar \bigstar }
11 {2,2,2} [0,3,0,0]
|
★
★
★
|
|
{\displaystyle |\bigstar \bigstar \bigstar ||}
12 {2,2,3} [0,2,1,0]
|
★
★
|
★
|
{\displaystyle |\bigstar \bigstar |\bigstar |}
13 {2,2,4} [0,2,0,1]
|
★
★
|
|
★{\displaystyle |\bigstar \bigstar ||\bigstar }
14 {2,3,3} [0,1,2,0]
|
★
|
★
★
|
{\displaystyle |\bigstar |\bigstar \bigstar |}
15 {2,3,4} [0,1,1,1]
|
★
|
★
|
★{\displaystyle |\bigstar |\bigstar |\bigstar }
16 {2,4,4} [0,1,0,2]
|
★
|
|
★
★{\displaystyle |\bigstar ||\bigstar \bigstar }
17 {3,3,3} [0,0,3,0]
|
|
★
★
★
|
{\displaystyle ||\bigstar \bigstar \bigstar |}
18 {3,3,4} [0,0,2,1]
|
|
★
★
|
★{\displaystyle ||\bigstar \bigstar |\bigstar }
19 {3,4,4} [0,0,1,2]
|
|
★
|
★
★{\displaystyle ||\bigstar |\bigstar \bigstar }
20 {4,4,4} [0,0,0,3]
|
|
|
★
★
★{\displaystyle |||\bigstar \bigstar \bigstar }
Number of k-combinations for all k
See also: Binomial coefficient § Sum of coefficients row
The number of k-combinations for all k is the number of subsets of a set of n
elements. There are several ways to see that this number is 2n. In terms of
combinations,
∑
0
≤
𝑘
≤
𝑛
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
2
𝑛
{\textstyle \sum _{0\leq {k}\leq {n}}{\binom {n}{k}}=2^{n}}, which is the sum of
the nth row (counting from 0) of the binomial coefficients in Pascal's triangle.
These combinations (subsets) are enumerated by the 1 digits of the set of base 2
numbers counting from 0 to 2n − 1, where each digit position is an item from the
set of n.

Given 3 cards numbered 1 to 3, there are 8 distinct combinations (subsets),

including the empty set:

|
{
{
}
;
{
1
}
;
{
2
}
;
{
1
,
2
}
;
{
3
}
;
{
1
,
3
}
;
{
2
,
3
}
;
{
1
,
2
,
3
}
}
|
=
2
3
=
8
{\displaystyle |\{\{\};\{1\};\{2\};\{1,2\};\{3\};\{1,3\};\{2,3\};\{1,2,3\}\}|
=2^{3}=8}

Representing these subsets (in the same order) as base 2 numerals:

0 – 000
1 – 001
2 – 010
3 – 011
4 – 100
5 – 101
6 – 110
7 – 111
Probability: sampling a random combination
There are various algorithms to pick out a random combination from a given set or
list. Rejection sampling is extremely slow for large sample sizes. One way to
select a k-combination efficiently from a population of size n is to iterate across
each element of the population, and at each step pick that element with a
dynamically changing probability of
𝑘
−
#
samples chosen
𝑛
−
#
samples visited
{\textstyle {\frac {k-\#{\text{samples chosen}}}{n-\#{\text{samples visited}}}}}
(see Reservoir sampling). Another is to pick a random non-negative integer less
than
(
𝑛
𝑘
)
{\displaystyle \textstyle {\binom {n}{k}}} and convert it into a combination using
the combinatorial number system.

Number of ways to put objects into bins

A combination can also be thought of as a selection of two sets of items: those
that go into the chosen bin and those that go into the unchosen bin. This can be
generalized to any number of bins with the constraint that every item must go to
exactly one bin. The number of ways to put objects into bins is given by the
multinomial coefficient

(
𝑛
𝑘
1
,
𝑘
2
,
…
,
𝑘
𝑚
)
=
𝑛
!
𝑘
1
!
𝑘
2
!
⋯
𝑘
𝑚
!
,
{\displaystyle {n \choose k_{1},k_{2},\ldots ,k_{m}}={\frac {n!}{k_{1}!\,k_{2}!\
cdots k_{m}!}},}

where n is the number of items, m is the number of bins, and

𝑘
𝑖
{\displaystyle k_{i}} is the number of items that go into bin i.

One way to see why this equation holds is to first number the objects arbitrarily
from 1 to n and put the objects with numbers
1
,
2
,
…
,
𝑘
1
{\displaystyle 1,2,\ldots ,k_{1}} into the first bin in order, the objects with
numbers
𝑘
1
+
1
,
𝑘
1
+
2
,
…
,
𝑘
2
{\displaystyle k_{1}+1,k_{1}+2,\ldots ,k_{2}} into the second bin in order, and so
on. There are
𝑛
!
{\displaystyle n!} distinct numberings, but many of them are equivalent, because
only the set of items in a bin matters, not their order in it. Every combined
permutation of each bins' contents produces an equivalent way of putting items into
bins. As a result, every equivalence class consists of
𝑘
1
!
𝑘
2
!
⋯
𝑘
𝑚
!
{\displaystyle k_{1}!\,k_{2}!\cdots k_{m}!} distinct numberings, and the number of
equivalence classes is
𝑛
!
𝑘
1
!
𝑘
2
!
⋯
𝑘
𝑚
!
{\displaystyle \textstyle {\frac {n!}{k_{1}!\,k_{2}!\cdots k_{m}!}}}.

The binomial coefficient is the special case where k items go into the chosen bin
and the remaining
𝑛
−
𝑘
{\displaystyle n-k} items go into the unchosen bin:

(
𝑛
𝑘
)
=
(
𝑛
𝑘
,
𝑛
−
𝑘
)
=
𝑛
!
𝑘
!
(
𝑛
−
𝑘
)
!
.
{\displaystyle {\binom {n}{k}}={n \choose k,n-k}={\frac {n!}{k!(n-k)!}}.}

See also
icon Mathematics portal
Binomial coefficient
Combinatorics
Block design
Kneser graph
List of permutation topics
Multiset
Pascal's triangle
Permutation
Probability
Subset
Notes
Reichl, Linda E. (2016). "2.2. Counting Microscopic States". A Modern Course in
Statistical Physics. WILEY-VCH. p. 30. ISBN 978-3-527-69048-0.
Mazur 2010, p. 10
Ryser 1963, p. 7 also referred to as an unordered selection.
When the term combination is used to refer to either situation (as in (Brualdi
2010)) care must be taken to clarify whether sets or multisets are being discussed.
Uspensky 1937, p. 18
High School Textbook for full-time student (Required) Mathematics Book II B (in
Chinese) (2nd ed.). China: People's Education Press. June 2006. pp. 107–116. ISBN
978-7-107-19616-4.
人教版高中数学选修 2-3 (Mathematics textbook, volume 2-3, for senior high school,
People's Education Press). People's Education Press. p. 21.
Mazur 2010, p. 21
Lucia Moura. "Generating Elementary Combinatorial Objects" (PDF). Site.uottawa.ca.
Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
"SAGE : Subsets" (PDF). Sagemath.org. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
Brualdi 2010, p. 52
Benjamin & Quinn 2003, p. 70
In the article Stars and bars (combinatorics) the roles of n and k are reversed.
Benjamin & Quinn 2003, pp. 71 –72
Benjamin & Quinn 2003, p. 72 (identity 145)
Benjamin & Quinn 2003, p. 71
Mazur 2010, p. 10 where the stars and bars are written as binary numbers, with
stars = 0 and bars = 1.
References
Benjamin, Arthur T.; Quinn, Jennifer J. (2003), Proofs that Really Count: The Art
of Combinatorial Proof, The Dolciani Mathematical Expositions 27, The Mathematical
Association of America, ISBN 978-0-88385-333-7
Brualdi, Richard A. (2010), Introductory Combinatorics (5th ed.), Pearson Prentice
Hall, ISBN 978-0-13-602040-0
Erwin Kreyszig, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, INC, 1999.
Mazur, David R. (2010), Combinatorics: A Guided Tour, Mathematical Association of
America, ISBN 978-0-88385-762-5
Ryser, Herbert John (1963), Combinatorial Mathematics, The Carus Mathematical
Monographs 14, Mathematical Association of America
Uspensky, James (1937), Introduction to Mathematical Probability, McGraw-Hill