Combinations and permutations

Before we discuss permutations we are going to have a look at what the words combination means and permutation. A
Waldorf salad is a mix of among other things celeriac, walnuts and lettuce. It doesn't matter in what order we add our
ingredients but if we have a combination to our padlock that is 4-5-6 then the order is extremely important.

If the order doesn't matter then we have a combination, if the order do matter then we have a permutation. One could say
that a permutation is an ordered combination.

The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is determined by the following formula:

$$P(n,r)=\frac{n!}{(n-r)!}$$

n! is read n factorial and means all numbers from 1 to n multiplied e.g.

$$5!=5\cdot 4\cdot 3\cdot 2\cdot 1$$

This is read five factorial. 0! Is defined as 1.

$$0!=1$$

Example

A code have 4 digits in a specific order, the digits are between 0-9. How many different permutations are there if one digit
may only be used once?

A four digit code could be anything between 0000 to 9999, hence there are 10,000 combinations if every digit could be used
more than one time but since we are told in the question that one digit only may be used once it limits our number of
combinations. In order to determine the correct number of permutations we simply plug in our values into our formula:

$$P(n,r)=\frac{10!}{(10-4)!}=\frac{10\cdot9\cdot8\cdot 7\cdot 6\cdot 5\cdot 4\cdot 3\cdot 2\cdot 1 }{6\cdot5\cdot 4\cdot 3\cdot
2\cdot 1}=5040$$

In our example the order of the digits were important, if the order didn't matter we would have what is the definition of a
combination. The number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time is determined by the following formula:

0606 S12 Paper 11 Question 4

a) Arrangements containing 5 different letters from the word

AMPLITUDE are to be made.
Find
i) the number of 5-letter arrangements if there are no restrictions,

Solution:
Since there are 9 different letters, and we pick 5 to be arranged, there
are 9P5 = 15,120 permutations.
ii) the number of 5-letter arrangements which start with the letter A
and end with the letter E.

Solution:
Since A and E are fixed, there are only 3 other letters to arrange in
between them, from the remaining 7 letters (9 letters minus the A and
E).
∴ there are 7P3 = 210 permutations.

b) Tickets for a concert are given out randomly to a class containing

20 students. No student is given more than one ticket. There are 15
tickets.
i) Find the number of ways in which this can be done.

Solution:
This means selecting 15 students from 20, so we have 20C15 = 15,504
ways.

There are 12 boys and 8 girls in the class. Find the number of different
ways in which
ii) 10 boys and 5 girls get tickets,

Solution:
Selecting 10 boys from 12, we have 12C10 = 66 ways.
Selecting 5 girls from 8, we have 8C5 = 56 ways.
∴ the total is 12C10 × 8C5 = 3,696 ways.

iii) all the boys get tickets.

Solution:
All 12 boys got tickets, so there is only 1 way to select all the boys.
The remaining 3 tickets go to 3 girls from 8, we have 8C3 = 56 ways.
∴ the total is 8C3 × 1 = 56 ways.

0606 W12 Paper 21 Question 9

a) An art gallery displays 10 paintings in a row. Of these paintings, 5
are by Picasso, 4 by Monet and 1 by Turner.
i) Find the number of different ways the paintings can be displayed if
there are no restrictions.

Solution:
Since there are 10 different items to be arranged, there are 10! =
3,628,800 permutations.

ii) Find the number of different ways the paintings can be displayed if
the paintings by each of the artists are kept together.

Solution:
Picasso's paintings can be arranged in 5! ways,
Monet's can be arranged in 4! ways and
Turner's can be arranged in 1! = 1 way.
Also, the 3 artists can be arranged in 3! ways (P-M-T, P-T-M, M-T-P,
etc)
∴ the total is 5! × 4! × 3! = 17,280 permutations.

b) A committee of 4 senior students and 2 junior students is to be

selected from a group of 6 senior students and 5 junior students.
i) Calculate the number of different committees which can be selected.

Solution:
Selecting 4 seniors from 6, we have 6C4 = 15 selections.
Selecting 2 juniors from 5, we have 5C2 = 10 selections.
∴ the total is 6C4 × 5C2 = 150 selections.

One of the 6 senior students is a cousin of one of the 5 junior

students.
ii) Calculate the number of different committees which can be selected
if at most one of these cousins is included.

Solution:
"At most one" means that there may be none of the cousins, or only
one of the cousins included. So we can work out all the different
scenarios: none of the cousins, only the senior cousin included, or
only the junior cousin included and add all the selections.
An alternative is to work out the number of selections where both
cousins are in; then we subtract from the total (from b(i) above) and
the remaining selections would have at most one of the cousins.
If both cousins are included, then we select only 3 other seniors from
the remaining 6, and 1 other junior from the remaining 4.
So, there are 5C3 × 4C1 = 40 selections where both cousins are
included.
∴ there are 150 − 40 = 110 selections where there is at most one of
the cousins.

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