2 ‫ محاضرة‬- ‫مقدمة في التوافقيات‬ ‫ثانية‬

‫رياضيات‬

1.2. Permutations

At the beginning of Section 1.1, we mentioned the following problem :

“ How many ways are there to arrange 5 boys and 3 girls in a row so that
no two girls are adjacent?”

This a typical example of a more general problem of arranging some

distinct objects subject to certain additional conditions.

Definition. Let be a given set of distinct objects.

For , an -permutation of is a way of arranging any of the
objects of in a row. When , an - permutation of is simply
called a permutation of .

Example 1.2.1. Let . All the -permutations of are

shown below:

abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, cba,

abd, adb, bad, bda, dab, dba,

acd, adc, cad, cda, dac, dca,

bcd, bdc, cbd, cdb, dbc, dcb.

There are altogher in number.

Notation. Let denote the number of -permuatation of . Thus the

answer in Example 1.2.2 can be written as .

Now we shall derive a formula for by applying the multiplication

principle (MP).

Derivation a combutational formula for :

An -permutation of can be formed in steps:

First, we choose an object from and put it in the first position .

Next we choose an object from the remaining ones in and put it in the
second position. We proceed on until the th- step in which we choose an

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object from the remaining elements in and put it in the th-

position.

There are choices in step , choices in step , ,

choices in step . Thus by (MP)

If we use the factorial notation : , then

Remark. By convention , . Note that and .

Example 1.2.2. Let be the set of the English

alphabets. Find the number of -letters words that can be formed from
such that the first and last letters are distinct vowels and the remaining
three are distinct consonants .

Solution.

There are vowels and consonants in . A required -letter word can

be formed in the following way .

Step 1. Choose a -permutation of and then put the first

vowel in the 1 position and the second vowel in the 5th position.
st

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Step 2. Choose a - permuatation of and put the 1st ,

2nd and 3rd consonants of the permutation in the 2nd , 3rd and 4th positions
respectively .

There are choices in Step 1 and choices in Step 2. Thus by

(MP), the number of such -letter words is given by

Example 1.2.3. There are boys and girls in a gathering. In how many
ways can they be arranged in a row so that

(i) The girls form a single block (i.e. there is no boys between any
two of the girls)?
(ii) The two end-positions are occupied by boys and no girls are
adjacent?

Solution. (i) Since the 3 girls must be together, we can treat them as a
single entity. The number of ways to arrange boys together with this
entity is . As the girls can permute among themselves
within the entity in ways, the desired number of ways is , by
(MP),

(ii) We first consider the arrangements of boys and then those of girls .
There are ways to arrange the boys. Fix an arbitrary one of the
arrangements. Since the end-positions are occupied by boys, there are
only spaces for the girls and .

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has choices. Since no two girls are adjacent, has choices and
has 4. Thus by (MP), the number of such arrangements is

Remark. Example 1.2.3 can also be solved by considering the

arrangements for the girls first.

Example 1.2.4. Between and , find the number of even

integers in which no digit is repeated .

Solution. Let be a required even integer. As shown in the

st
following diagram, the 1 digit can be chosen from and the
th
5 digit can be chosen from .

Since , we divide the problem into two

disjoint cases:

Case 1:

In this case , has choices , then has choices, and

has choices. By (MP), there are

such even numbers.

Case :

In this case , has choices , then has choices, and has

choices. By (MP), there are

such even numbers.

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Now, by (AP), the total number of required even numbers is

Example 1.2.5. Let be the set of natural numbers whose digits are
chosen from such that no digits are repeated. Find

(i)
(ii)

Solution. (i) W e divide into disjoint subsets consisting of :

(a) -digit numbers :

(b) -digit numbers: 13, 15,
(c) -digit numbers:
(d) -digit numbers :

and find by applying (AP). Thus for let denote the set
of - digit natural numbers formed by with no repeatition . Then

and by (AP),

(ii) Let . It is tedious to determine by summing up all

the numbers in . Indeed, we use the following method.

Let denote the sum of unit-digits of the numbers in ; that

of ten-digits of the numbers in ; that of hundered-digits of the
numbers in ; and that of thousand-digits of the numbers in .
Then

We first count . Clearly, the sum of unit-digits of the numbers

in is

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In , there are numbers whose unit-digits are, respectively, and

. Thus the sum of the unit-digits of the number in is

In , there are numbers whose unit-digits are, respectively, and

. Thus the sum of the unit-digits of the number in is

In , there are numbers whose unit-digits are, respectively, and

. Thus the sum of the unit-digits of the number in is

Hence by (AP),

Similarly, we have

and

Thus ,

Exercise 2.

1. There are students in a graduation ceremony. Five of them are

girls. In how many ways can these students be arranged in a
row if
(i) There are no restriction?
(ii) The girls must be together (forming a bolck)?

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(iii) No girls are adjacent?

(iv) Between two particular boys and , there are no boys but
exactly girls?

Answers: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

2. boys and girls are to be arranged in a row, where .

Find the numbers of ways this can be done in each of the following
cases:
(i) There are no restriction.;
(ii) No boys are adjacent ( );
(iii) The girls form a single block;
(iv) A particular boy and a particular girl must be adjacent.

Answers: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

3. How many -letters words can be found using

(i) If letters in each word must be distinct?

(ii) If, in addition, can only occur as the first,
third or fifth letters while the rest as the second or fourth
letters?

Answers: (i) (ii)

4. Find the number of ways of arranging the letters in the English

alphabet in a row such that there are exactly letters between
and .
Answer:
5. Find the number of odd integers between and in which
no digit is repeated.
Answer:
6. Evaluate

where .

Answer:

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‫مقدمة في التوافقيات ‪ -‬محاضرة ‪2‬‬ ‫ثانية‬
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‫‪7. Evaluate‬‬

‫‪where‬‬ ‫‪.‬‬

‫‪Answer:‬‬

‫‪8. Let‬‬ ‫‪with‬‬ ‫‪. Prove each of the following identities:‬‬

‫)‪(i‬‬
‫)‪(ii‬‬
‫)‪(iii‬‬ ‫‪where‬‬
‫)‪(iv‬‬
‫)‪(v‬‬ ‫‪.‬‬

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