Module 3

Permutation and Combination,

Probability
Contents:

• Introduction
• The rule of sum and product
• Permutations, Permutations with Repetitions and
Permutations of Objects not all Different, Circular
Permutations
• Combinations, Combinations with Repetition
• Terminology in probability theory, Definition of
probability, Laws of probability, Addition law, Law
of Conditional probability, Multiplication theorem.
A fast-food restaurant has a meal special:
$5 for a drink, sandwich, side item and dessert.
The choices are:
Sandwich: Grilled chicken, All Beef Patty, Vegeburger and Fish Filet.
Side: Regular fries, Cheese Fries, Potato Wedges.
Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookie or Apple Pie.
Drink: Fanta, Dr. Pepper, Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite.
Q. How many meal combos are possible?

A. There are 4 stages:

Choose a sandwich.
Choose a side.
Choose a dessert.
Choose a drink.
There are 4 different types of sandwich, 3 different types of side, 2
different types of desserts and five different types of drink.

The number of meal combos possible is 4 * 3 * 2 * 5 = 120.

Q. You take a survey with five “yes” or “no” answers. How many
different ways could you complete the survey?

A. There are 5 stages: Question 1, question 2, question 3, question

4, and question 5.
There are 2 choices for each question (Yes or No).
So the total number of possible ways to answer is:
2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 32.
Q: A company puts a code on each different product they sell. The code is made
up of 3 numbers and 2 letters. How many different codes are possible?

A. There are 5 stages (number 1, number 2, number 3, letter 1 and letter 2).
There are 10 possible numbers: 0 – 9.
There are 26 possible letters: A – Z.
So we have:
10 * 10 * 10 * 26 * 26 = 676000 possible codes.
Q. There are 2 vegetarian entrée options and 5 meat entrée
options on a dinner menu. What is the total number of entrée
options?
A: We can add the number of vegetarian options to the number of meat options
to find the total number of entrée options.

There are 7 total options .

Q. A student is shopping for a new computer. He is deciding among 3
desktop computers and 4 laptop computers. What is the total number
of computer options?

A: 3+4 =7
 Finding the Number of Permutations
of n Distinct Objects Using the Multiplication
Principle
Suppose we have four paintings, and we want to find the number of ways we can
hang three of the paintings in order on the wall. We can draw three lines to
represent the three places on the wall.
GIVEN N DISTINCT OPTIONS, DETERMINE HOW MANY PERMUTATIONS
THERE ARE.

1. Determine how many options there are for the first situation.
2. Determine how many options are left for the second situation.
3. Continue until all of the spots are filled.
4. Multiply the numbers together.
Finding the Number of Permutations
of n Distinct Objects Using a Formula
For some permutation problems, it is inconvenient to use the Multiplication Principle
because there are so many numbers to multiply. Fortunately, we can solve these
problems using a formula. Before we learn the formula, let’s look at two common
notations for permutations.
If we have a set of n objects and we want to choose r objects from the set in order,
we write  P(n,r)

To calculate P(n,r), we begin by finding n!, We then divide by (n−r)! 

1. A professor is creating an exam of 9 questions from a test bank of 12
questions. How many ways can she select and arrange the questions?
10
P3
 Permutations with Repetitions

The number of permutations of n objects taken all

at a time when repetition of objects is allowed is
nn.

The number of permutations of n objects taken r at

a time when repetition of objects is allowed is nr.
Find the number of 4 digit numbers using the
digits 1,2,3,4,5,6 that are divisible by 2 when
repetitions are allowed
 Permutation when the objects are not distinct

The number of permutations of n objects of which p 1 are of one kind, p2 are of

second kind, …, pk are of kth kind and the rest if any are of different kinds is

𝑛!
p1! p 2! …   pk! 
1. How many ways can the letters in the name RAMONA be arranged?

ANS:
Observe that the letter A appears twice and all other letters appear
once in the word.

= = 360 ways
2. Rearranging all of the letters of the word MATHEMATICS, how many
distinct strings can we form?

= = 4,989,600
3. How many different 7-digit numerals can be written using the following 7
digits? Assume the repeated digits are all used.
3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6

= = 420
4. If there are 4 chocolate chip, 2 oatmeal, and 2 double chocolate cookies
in a box, in how many different orders is it possible to eat all of these
cookies?

= = 420
Circular Permutations

There are some arrangements which are circular in nature. For example

consider the roundtable conference, making of a necklace with different
colored beads. These are like arranging the items in a closed loop.  The
number of ways of counting associated with the circular arrangement gives
rise to a circular permutation.

Suppose we have four chairs around the roundtable and we need to make
arrangement for four persons A, B, C, and D. Any of the persons can take
any of the positions. But as soon as one of them takes a chair, the number
of options reduces by one for the other three persons. And at last, there is
only one chair for the last person.
Arrangement in Circular Permutation

For the above situation, four persons A, B, C, and D can arrange themselves in 4!

ways if they are to be arranged in a row. As in a linear permutation i.e, in a row
arrangement, there is a start and there is an end. We need to take into
consideration the position of all the persons in the arrangement. But in the
circular permutation, there is nothing like a start or an end.
In the circular permutation, we consider that one person or object is fixed and
the remaining persons are to be arranged. Suppose the position of A is fixed. The
number of ways in which the other three persons arrange themselves when one
of them has a fix position is (4 − 1)! = 3! = 6.

i.e. No: of arrangements is (n-1)!

So there are six possible ways in which the four persons A, B, C, and D can
arrange themselves. This is also true if we fix the position of B or that of C or
of D.
 Formula for Circular Permutations

Circular permutation is the total number of ways in which n distinct objects can
be arranged around a fix circle. It is of two types.
Case 1: - Clockwise and Anticlockwise orders are different.
Case 2: - Clockwise and Anticlockwise orders are same.
1. Calculate circular permutation of 4 persons sitting around a round table
considering
i) Clockwise and Anticlockwise orders as different and
ii) Clockwise and Anticlockwise orders as same.

Case 1 Case 2
Problem: Find the number of ways in which 10 beads can be arranged to
form a necklace.
Problem: Find the number of ways in which four girls and three boys can arrange
themselves in a row so that none of the boys is together? How is this arrangement
different from that in a circular way?

Solution:
Case 1: Linear arrangement
Let us first seat the four girls. The girls can seat in 4P4 = 4! = 24.
_ G1 _ G2 _ G3 _ G4 _
For this type of arrangement, the boys can only sit on the five blanked ( _ ) position.
Three boys can arrange themselves in 5 P 3 = 5! ⁄ 2! = 60. The required number of ways
= 24 × 60 = 1440. (By multiplication theorem)
Case 2: Circular arrangement
 Eg: In how many ways can four men and women be seated at a round table if
the men and women want to sit alternately?

We again emphasize that the first person can sit anywhere without
affecting the permutation.
So there is only one choice for the first spot. Suppose a man sat down
first. The chair next to it must belong to a woman, and there are 4
choices. The next chair belongs to a man, so there are three choices and
so on. We list the choices below. 1
1
4
1x4x3x3x2x2x1x1 =144.

1
OR 3
4 men can be seated in a circle in 3! ways. There are 4
2
spaces between the boys, which can be occupied by 4
girls in 4p4 ways. Hence total number of ways = 3! 4p4 = (3! 3
2
4!) =144
Eg: In how many ways 10 boys and 5 girls can sit around a circular table, so
that no two girls sit together.

10 boys can be seated in a circle in 9! ways. There are 10 spaces

between the boys, which can be occupied by 5 girls in 10p5 ways. Hence
total number of ways = 9! 10p5 = (9!10!)/5! .
How many necklaces can be made from 20 beads of different colours?
Solution:
the required number of circular permutations = (20-1)!
 COMBINATIONS

So far, we have looked at problems asking us to put objects in order. There

are many problems in which we want to select a few objects from a group of
objects, but we do not care about the order. When we are selecting objects
and the order does not matter, we are dealing with combinations. A selection
of r objects from a set of  n objects where the order does not matter can be
written as C(n,r).
Just as with permutations, C(n,r) can also be written as n​​C​r​.
Combinations
Qn: A fast food restaurant offers five side dish options. Your meal comes with
two side dishes.
How many ways can you select your side dishes?
How many ways can you select 3 side dishes?
An ice cream shop offers 10 flavors of ice cream. How many ways are
there to choose 3 flavors for a banana split?
5
Properties of combinations
 Combinations with Repetitions:

The number of unordered k-element selections from a set

containing t elements with repetitions is
C(k+t-1,t-1)
Eg: Consider 3 books: a Computer Science book, a Physics book and a History
book. Suppose the library has at least 6 copies of each of these books. In how
many ways can we select six books?

Ans: The problem is to choose unordered , six-element selections from the set
{ Computer Science, Physics, History}, repetitions allowed.
k=6,t=3

C(k+t-1,t-1)
= C (6+3-1,3-1) = C(8,2) =28
Eg: Suppose there are piles of red, blue and green balls and that each
pile contains at least 8 balls. In how many ways can we select eight balls:

Ans: k=8,t=3

C(k+t-1,t-1)
= C (8+3-1,3-1) = C(10,2) =45
k=4,t=5

C(k+t-1,t-1)
= C (4+5-1,5-1) = C(8,4) = 70
https://www.superprof.co.uk/resources/
academic/maths/probability/combinatorics/
combinations-with-
repetition.html#chapter_combination-with-
repetition
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ivytech-
collegealgebra/chapter/find-the-number-of-
combinations-using-the-formula/

https://www.slideshare.net/AnubhavRoy7/
permutations-and-combinationsfor-class-11

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Combination-PowerPoint-Presentatio/
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