Arvin Coprada

ENG101N
Mathematics in the Modern World
Activity no. 4

Probability
Probability is the measure of the likelihood that an event will occur in a Random Experiment.
Probability is quantified as a number between 0 and 1, where, loosely speaking, 0 indicates
impossibility and 1 indicates certainty. The higher the probability of an event, the more likely it is
that the event will occur.

Probability is simply how likely something is to happen. Whenever we’re unsure about the
outcome of an event, we can talk about the probabilities of certain outcomes—how likely they
are. The analysis of events governed by probability is called statistics.

Permutation
A permutation is an arrangement of all or part of a set of objects, with regard to the order of the
arrangement.
For example, suppose we have a set of three letters: A, B, and C. We might ask how many ways
we can arrange 2 letters from that set. Each possible arrangement would be an example of a
permutation. The complete list of possible permutations would be: AB, AC, BA, BC, CA, and
CB.
When they refer to permutations, statisticians use a specific terminology. They describe
permutations as n distinct objects taken r at a time. Translation: n refers to the number of objects
from which the permutation is formed; and r refers to the number of objects used to form the
permutation. Consider the example from the previous paragraph. The permutation was formed
from 3 letters (A, B, and C), so n = 3; and the permutation consisted of 2 letters, so r = 2.
Combinations
Sometimes, we want to count all of the possible ways that a single set of objects can be selected -
without regard to the order in which they are selected.
 In general, n objects can be arranged in n(n - 1)(n - 2) ... (3)(2)(1) ways. This product is
represented by the symbol n!, which is called n factorial. (By convention, 0! = 1.)
 A combination is a selection of all or part of a set of objects, without regard to the order
in which they were selected. This means that XYZ is considered the same combination as
ZYX.
 The number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time is denoted by nCr.

To put it in simple terms, When the order doesn't matter, it is a Combination. When the
order does matter it is a Permutation.