PERMUTATIONS AND

COMBINATIONS
PERMUTATIONS AND
COMBINATIONS
The Fundamental Counting Rule
For a sequence of two events in which the first event can occur m
ways and the second n ways, the events can occur a total of m.n.
ways.

Pages 63 – 77 in chapter 4:

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EXAMPLE OF THE COUNTING
RULE
The typical home alarm system has a code that consist of 4 digits.
The digits (0 through 9) can be repeated and they must be entered
in the correct order. Assume that you plan to gain success by
adding code until you find the correct one. How many different
codes are possible?

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SOLUTION
There are 10 possible values for each of the 4 digits, so the number
of different possible codes is 10 . 10 . 10 . 10 = 10,000.

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NOTATION
The factorial symbol, ! denotes the product of decreasing positive
whole numbers. For example, 4! = 4 . 3 . 2 . 1 = 24

NOTE: 0! = 1

*Please acclimatize yourself with your calculator well enough to

know how to use the factorial symbol on it.

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FACTORIAL RULE
A collection of n different items can be arranged in order n!
different ways.
In essence, the factorial rule reflects the fact that the first item may
be selected n different ways, the second (n-1) different ways and so
on.

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EXAMPLE
You have been hired by a travel company as a statistician and your
first assignment is to conduct a survey in each of the 50 state
capitals. As you plan your route to travel, you want to determine
the number of different possible routes. How many different routes
are possible?

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SOLUTION
By applying the factorial rule, we know that 50 items can be
arranged 50! Ways. So the 50 state capital, can be arranged 50!
ways., so the number of routes is 50!

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EXERCISE
You have just started your own airline company, you have one
plane for a route connecting Austin, Boise and Chicago. One route
is Austin-Boise-Chicago and a second route is Chicago-Boise-Austin.
How many other routes are possible?
How many different routes are possible if service is expanded to
include a total of eight cities?

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SOLUTION
There are a total of 3! Routes
3! = 3 . 2 . 1 = 6 routes
2 have already been mentioned so there are 4 other routes
possible.
If service is expanded to include a total of eight cities?
Then the number of routes will be 8! = 40,320.

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PERMUTATIONS AND
COMBINATIONS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJnIdRXUi7A

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 PERMUTATIONS
Sometimes we have n different items but need to select some of them
instead of all of them. As with the earlier problem:
You have been hired by a travel company as a statistician and your
first assignment is to conduct a survey in each of the 50 state
capitals. If we only have time to visit only 4 capitals, the number of
different routes is 50 . 49 . 48 . 47
This can also be expressed as 50!/46! = 50 . 49 . 48 . 47
We can generalize this result by noting that if we have n different
items available and we want to select r of them, the number of
different arrangements possible is n! /(n-r)! As in 50!/46!
This generalization is commonly called the Permutations Rule.

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 PERMUTATIONS RULE (WHEN
ITEMS ARE ALL DIFFERENT)
The number of permutations (or sequences) of r items selected from n
available items (without replacement) is:
Pr = n!/(n – r)!
n

NOTE: Many calculators can evaluate expressions of nPr

The permutations rule requires the following:

We must have a total of n different items available
We must select r of the n items (without replacement)
We must consider rearrangements of the same items to be different
sequences
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PERMUTATIONS
When we use the term permutations, arrangements or sequences,
we imply that order is taken into consideration in the sense that
different orderings of the same items are counted separately.

Consider: ABC can be arranged 6 different ways. ABC, ACB, BAC,

BCA, CAB, CBA. (Combinations which we will look at later, does not
count these arrangements separately).

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EXAMPLE
You have just been hired to determine the programming for the Fox
television network. When selecting the shows to be shown on
Monday night, you find that you have 27 shows available and you
must select 4 of them. The order of the shows is important!
How many different sequences of 4 shows are possible, when there
are 27 shows available?

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SOLUTION
We need to select r = 4 shows from n = 27 that are available. The
number of different arrangements is found as shown:
Pr = n!/(n-r)! = 27!/(27-4)! = 421,200
n

There are 421,200 different possible arrangements of 4 shows

selected from 27 that are available.

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PERMUTATIONS (INVOLVING
PROBABILITY) EXAMPLES
Probability of winning the lottery:
Find the probability of winning the indicated lottery:
1. Massachusetts Mass Millions: Select the winning six numbers
from 1, 2, …….49
2. Pennsylvania Super 6 Lotto: Select the winning six numbers from
1, 2, ……69
3. New York Lotto: Select the winning six numbers from 1, 2, …..59

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SOLUTIONS
1. 1/(49!/43!)
2. 1/(69!/63!)
3. 1/(59!/53!)

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PERMUTATIONS RULE (WHEN SOME
ITEMS ARE IDENTICAL TO OTHERS)

If there are n items with n1, alike, n2 alike, ……, the numbers of
permutation of all n items is n!/n1!n2!....nk!

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EXAMPLES
1. Consider the letters: BBBBBAAAA. What are the number of
permutations?
2. Permutate the word STATISTICS
3. Permutate the word MISSISSIPPI
4. Permutate the word COMMITTEE

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SOLUTIONS
1. 9!/5!4! = 362, 880/2880 = 126
2. 10!/3!3!2! = 50, 400
3. 11!/4!4!2! = 11!/1152 = 34,650
4. 9!/2!2!2! = 362, 880/8 = 45,360

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COMBINATION RULE
The number of combinations of r items
selected from n different items is nCr = n!/(n-
r)!r!

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COMBINATIONS RULE

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COMBINATIONS EXAMPLE

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COMBINATIONS EXAMPLE

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COMBINATIONS EXAMPLE

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PERMUTATION EXAMPLES
1. A group of stockholders are to elect a president, vice-president, secretary
and a treasurer from 6 board members who qualify. How many different ways
can the officers be elected?

2. How many ways are there to elect a president, vice president, secretary,
and treasurer, from a club with 32 members?

3. A club with 32 members is to select five officers (president, vice president,

secretary, treasurer, and historian). In how many ways can this be done?

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 DECIDING WHEN TO USE
PERMUTATIONS VS COMBINATIONS
Only practice helps you to recognize the situations when combinations
are asked for or where permutations are asked for.

BASICS:
1. To select a team that includes members but roles within the team are
not assigned - use combinations.
2. To select a team that includes members with each member assigned a
specific role on that team - use permutations.
3. To get the first 3 winners of a race but order of each winner is not
important - use combinations.
4. To get the first 3 winners of a race but order of each winner is
important - use permutations.

NOTE: permutations will give you more possible sets than combinations.
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DECIDING WHEN TO USE
PERMUTATIONS VS COMBINATIONS

 Use combinations when counting the number of choices where order doesn't matter.
 Example: A club wants to choose a three-person committee, so you would use
combinations because the committee consisting of Bill, Sue, and Alice is exactly
the same as Sue, Alice, and Bill.

 On the other hand, if the club wanted to elect an executive committee consisting of
a President, Vice-President, and Secretary, then you would use permutations since
Bill as President, Sue as Vice President, and Alice as Secretary is very different
than Sue as President, Alice as Vice President, and Bill as Secretary.

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