Its election time at a high school that has a total of 50 students in the junior class.

How
many ways can a class president, class vice president, class treasurer,and class secretary
be chosen if each student may only hold one office?
SOLUTION: Here the order that we choose the students is important. The same group of
four people could be given different offices and it would count as a different result. Since
order matters, we are really trying to determine the number of permutations of 50 taken
four at a time. The formula for permutations gives us P( 50, 4 ) = 50!/46! = 50 x 49 x 48
x 47 = 5527200.
The same class of 50 students wants to form a prom committee. How many ways can a
four person prom committee be selected from the junior class?
SOLUTION: This is similar to the last example in that the numbers are the same, we are
choosing four people out of 50. However this time the order is unimportant. If a group of
people is on the committee, then it does not matter what order they were selected. Since
order does not matter, we are trying to determine the number of combinations of 50 taken
four at a time. The formula for combinations gives us C( 50, 4 ) = 50!/(4!46!) = (50 x 49
x 48 x 47)/(4 x 3 x 2 x 1) = 230300.
If we want to form a group of five students and we have 20 to choose from, how many
ways is this possible?
SOLUTION: In forming a group we dont need to worry about the order. So this is a
combination and we need to calculate C( 20, 5 ) = 20!(5!15!) = (20 x 19 x 18 x 17 x 16)/
(5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1) = 15504.
How many ways can we arrange four letters from the word computer if repetitions are
not allowed, and different orders of the same letters count as different arrangements?
SOLUTION: Since were keeping track of the order of the letters, this is a permutation.
We are selecting four letters from a total of eight, and must calculate P( 8, 4 ) = 8!/4! = 8
x 7 x 6 x 5 = 1680
How many ways can we arrange four letters from the word computer if repetitions are
not allowed, and different orders of the same letters count as the same arrangement?
SOLUTION: Order is not important, so this is a combination. We are selecting four
letters from a total of eight, and calculate C( 8, 4 ) = 8!/(4!4!) = (8 x 7 x 6 x 5)/(4 x 3 x 2
x 1) = 70
How many different four digit numbers are possible if we can choose any digits from 0 to
9 and all of the digits must be different?
SOLUTION: Here the order is important, so this is a permutations. We must calculate P(
10 , 4) = 10!/6! = 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 = 5040.
If we are given a box containing seven books, how many ways can we arrange three of
them on a shelf?
SOLUTION: Here we care about how the books are arranged, and so the order is
important. This means that we are dealing with a permutation. We must calculate P( 7 , 3)
= 7!/4! = 7 x 6 x 5 = 210.
If we are given a box containing seven books, how many ways can we choose collections

of three of them from the box?

SOLUTION: Here we care about choosing groups of three books, and so the order is not
relevant to the problem. This means that we are dealing with a combination. We must
calculate C( 7 , 3) = 7!/(4!3!) = 7 x 6 x 5 = 35.

Question 1: In how many ways can the letters of the word ABACUS be rearranged such

that the vowels always appear together? Error: Reference source not foundError:
Reference source not found
.
Answer & Explanation

Question 2: How many different four letter words can be formed (the words need not be
meaningful) using the letters of the word MEDITERRANEAN such that the first letter is
E and the last letter is R?
Answer & Explanation

Question 3:What is the probability that the position in which the consonants appear
remain unchanged when the letters of the word "Math" are re-arranged?
Answer & Explanation

Question 4: There are 6 boxes numbered 1, 2, ... 6. Each box is to be filled up either with
a red or a green ball in such a way that at least 1 box contains a green ball and the boxes
containing green balls are consecutively numbered. The total number of ways in which
this can be done is:
Answer & Explanation

Question 5: A man can hit a target once in 4 shots. If he fires 4 shots in succession, what
is the probability that he will hit his target?
Answer & Explanation

Question 6: In how many ways can 5 letters be posted in 3 post boxes, if any number of
letters can be posted in all of the three post boxes?
Answer & Explanation

Question 7: Ten coins are tossed simultaneously. In how many of the outcomes will the
third coin turn up a head?
Answer & Explanation

Question 8: In how many ways can the letters of the word "PROBLEM" be rearranged to
make seven letter words such that none of the letters repeat?
Answer & Explanation