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Unit 3 - Circular Permutations

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50 views9 pages

Unit 3 - Circular Permutations

Uploaded by

anushka.tandon.btech2023
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit-III

Circular Permutations

SOHAM GOKHALE / AMIT KUMAR


SIT PUNE
Circular Permutations
A circular permutation refers to the number of distinct ways to arrange objects in a circle,
where rotations of the same arrangement are considered identical.
The number of ways to arrange n distinct objects along a fixed circle is

For example, if we have three objects 1, 2 and 3,

These are the only two possible permutations. Also,

Note: In contrast to linear permutations, where the order of objects matters, circular
permutations treat arrangements that can be obtained by rotating others as equivalent.
Example
For 4 objects, we have the following.

Also,
Example: In how many ways can
6 people be seated around a
circular table?

6 people can be seated around a circular table in


(6-1)! = 5! = 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120 ways.
Example: In how many ways can r people, from a
total of n people be seated in a circular manner?
First of all, we have ways to choose r out of n people.
Further, the selected r people can be seated in ways. Therefore, the total possible
ways to arrange will be

Observe that in a circular seating, one can rotate the table to obtain different
permutations r of the same seating. We will be considering them as the same.
Therefore, we have divided the resultant by r.
Example: Find the number of circular 3-
permutations of 5 people.
For instance, this question can be reframed as : Find the number of ways to
choose seating arrangements (at a circular table) for 3 people out of 5.
There are C(5,3) ways to choose 3 people out of 5. Moreover, there are (3-1)!
ways to arrange 3 distinct people in a circular way. The product will therefore be
2! C(5,3)=20
or
Example: Find the number of circular 4-
permutations of 5 people.
Here, n = 5 and r = 4. Therefore the number of circular 4-permutations will be
.

Explanation: We can choose 4 people out of 5 in C(5,4) = 5 ways.


Further, the chosen 4 people can be arranged in (4-1)! = 3! = 6 ways.
Therefore by the product rule, the total number of circular permutations will be
5*6 = 30.
Exercise:
1. In how many ways can 10 people be seated at a round table?
2. Find the number of ways in which 5 people A, B, C, D, and E can be seated at a
round table, such that
(a) A and B always sit together.
(b) A, B and C always sit together.
(c) D always sits at the head of the table (a fixed position).

Ans: (a) 2!.3! (b) 2!.3! (c) 4!


Thank You!

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