Permutations and Combinations At the end of this chapter you should be able to: i use the counting principles I understand the term permutation I find the number of ways of arranging » different objects I find the number of ways of arranging r out of n different objects i find the number of arrangements of n objects not all different I find the number of ways of arranging objects with restrictions IW find the number of ways of choosing r out of n different objects BB find the number of ways of choosing r out of n objects that are not all distinct i understand the difference between a permutation and a combination. The counting principles ‘There are two basic counting principles: the multiplication rule and the addition rule. Multiplication rule If event A can occur in m possible ways and when this has been done event B can occur in n possible ways, there are m X 1 possible ways for both events A and B to occur. EXAMPLE 1 Abox contains six red marbles, four blue marbles and four green marbles. In how many ‘ways can you select two red marbles in two selections (select without replacement)? SOLUTION Since there are six red marbles, we can select any of the six on the first draw. For the second selection we can choose any of the five remaining red marbles. ‘Since we need both red marbles the number of selections = 6 X 5 = 30.Addition rule ‘The addition rule is used when we are looking at one event or another. If event A can occur in m possible ways and event B can occur in n possible ways, there are m + n ways for either event A or event B to occur. EXAMPLE 2 A box contains six red marbles, four blue marbles and four green marbles. In how ‘many ways can you select one red or one blue marble if only one selection is made? SOLUTION ‘There are six red marbles and four blue marbles, therefore there are 6 +4 = 10 red ‘or blue marbles in all ‘The number of ways of selecting a red or blue marble = 10, ‘Two events A and B are mutually exclusive if and only if they cannot occur at the same time. For mutually exclusive events A N B = ©. A set of events is exhaustive if at least one of the events must occur. When tossing a coin, the events head (H) or tail (T) are exhaustive since one or the other must occur. Permutations A permutation is an arrangement of objects ina specific order.EXAMPL Find the number of permutations of the three letters A, Band C. SOLUTION Method 1 We need to arrange three diferent letters. ‘We can place any of the three letters inthe first position. After doing this we can place any of the remaining two letters in the second position. “The remaining letter is placed in the third position. X2K1=31=6 The number of permutation Method 2 ‘We can lis all the different arrangements as follows: ABC ACB BAC BCA CAB CBA “There are 6 different arrangements. Method 3: ‘The box method Since we are arranging three letters we can draw three boxes and place the letters in the boxes one at a time: any of the three letters go in the first box, any of the remain- ing two in the second box and the last in the third box. ey Permutations of n distinct objects ‘The number of permutations of 1 different (distinct) objects is n! ‘The notation used for the permutation of n distinct objects is "P, = rl. ‘This is read as ‘n P 1, ‘permute n out of n different objects’ or ‘the number of different arrangements of m out of n distinct objects: We can derive this formula by looking at the box method: Since we are arranging n objects we draw boxes and fill them one at a time. We can place any of the objects in the first box, any of the ( — 1) remaining objects in the second box and so on until we fill the last box with the last object. mn jn-1jn-2]~ Ju |= J» ]3 ]2 70 ‘The number of arrangements = n X (n — 1) X (n— 2) X***X3X2XK1EXAMPLE 5 SOLUTION Ask yourself Isorderimportant? Areallthe objects being arranged? EXAMPLE 8 SOLUTION Note ‘Yourcalulatorhas "p Youcanuse thistoevaluateP, Find the number of different arrangements of the digits of the number 123 479. Method 1 ‘The number 123 479 consists of six different digits. ‘The number of permutations of n different objects = n! When n= », we have The number of different permutations of the six digits Method 2: The box method Any of the six digits will go in the first box, any of the remaining five in the second box, and so on until the last digit remains to place in the last box. op» Pp Pp | Number of arrangements = 6X5 X 4X 3X2 1= 720, Permutation of r out of m distinct objects ‘The number of permutations of r out of m distinct objects = "P_= Find the number of different arrangements of four letters of the word NUMBER. ‘Method 1 NUMBER has six different letters and we need to arrange four of these letters. ‘Therefore r= 4 and n = 6. ‘The number of permutations = 6P, = =6K5K4X3 = 360. Method 2 We can use the box method to arrange the four letters as follows: since we are arranging four letters we draw four boxes. Inthe first box we can place any of the six letters. After using one letter in the first box we have five remaining letters that can {go in the second box. And so on until all four boxes are filled. es jt ps ‘The total number of arrangements = 6 X 5X 4X 3 = 360.Permutations with repeated objects We have been dealing with objects that are all distinct. Now let us look at what happens when we have repeated objects among the set we are arranging. . nl! ‘The number of permutations of » objects not all distint is pe where r, +r, +--+ 1, = wand r, is the number of objects of one kind, r, is the number of objects of a different kind and so on. EXAMPL Find the number of arrangements ofthe letters of the word DIFFERENT. SOLUTION ‘The word DIFFERENT has repeated letters therefore we cannot use n! as the number of arrangements. DIFFERENT has nine letters of which there are two Fs and two Es, all other letters, are distinct. Using. qwhere n = WIerIX ‘number of permutations EXAMPLE 14 Alexhas four blue marbles and six red marbles all indistinguishable except for the colour. In how many ways can he arrange all 10 marbles in a row? Total no, of marbles = 10 ‘No. of red marbles = 6 No.of blue marbles = 4 0,7, = 6 =4 Since there are objects ofthe same kind, number of arrangements = 37 = 210. Permutations with restrictions In some permutations we have restrictions on the arrangements. To find the number of arrangements we take account of the restrictions first and then assign the other objects to be arranged in any particular order.EXAMPLE 18, SOLUTION Ask yourself Does order matter? How many letters are being used? Are there repeated letters? EXAMPLE 19 SOLUTION Ask yourself ‘What are the restrictions in the problem? Howdowe deal with the restrictions? ‘Are there any repeated objects? Find the total number of arrangements of the letters of the word SINGULAR with all three vowels next to each other. SINGULAR consists of three vowels and five consonants. We treat the three vowels as. ‘one object, and the five consonants as five different objects. ‘We now arrange the six objects in 6! ways. ‘The three vowels can also be arranged in 3! ways. Since we must arrange the vowels and the six objects together, total no. of arrangements = 3! x 6! = 4320. Five boys and four girls are to stand in a line. Find how many ways can this be done if (a) there is no restriction in how they stand next to each other, (b) all the girls are to stand next to each other, (c) all the boys are to stand next to each other, (d) no two boys stand next to each other. (a) There are nine people in total to arrange. Since there is no restriction, we can arrange nine people in (b) We can separate the nine people into five boys and four girls. (Our restriction is that all four girls must be together. Let us put the four girls together and treat them as one. “Treating the five boys as five separate units, we now have six units to arrange in 6! ways. 362 880 ways. etways Gr GG Ge]B BB) B Bs Bays For every arrangement of the six units, we can arrange the girls in 4 ways. ‘Total no. of arrangements with all four girls next to each other = 6! % 4! = 17 280.() (d) ‘The restriction in this case is that all five boys must be next to each other. ‘Treating the five boys as one unit and the four girls as four separate units, we have five units to arrange in 5! ways. Shways 1 By B By By B/G) Gp Gy Ge Slwaye For every arrangement of the five units the boys can be arranged in 5! ways. Total no, of arrangements = 5! x 5! = 14.400 Since no two boys are to stand next to each other we must start our arrange- ment with a boy. Any of the five boys can go in the first position followed by any of the four girls in the second position and so on until all positions are filled, alternating with boy followed by girl s fo je |e |e |@ |8 |o |e nT Total no. of arrangements ~ 5! x 4! = 2880 Permutations with restrictions and repetition EXAMPLE 24 SOLUTION Find the number of different permutations of the letters of the word REPETITION. How many of these permutations start and end with the letter T? REPETITION has 10 letters including 2 Es, 2'Ts and 2 Is. ‘Since we have repeated letters the no. of permutations 453 600 Let us assume that the letters are distinct. ‘The arrangement will be any of the two Ts in the first position and the remaining Tin the last position. We have eight remaining letters to arrange in the middle as 8! > ]® ]7 Je Js ]* ]s ]2 ]) 7r t t Let us deal with the repetition: since there are 2 Ts, 2 Es and 2 Is we divide by 2x 2x2! -. No. of permutationsEXAMPLE 25 SOLUTION Remember Whendeating with repeated ob- jects arrange the objects asifthey were diferent and then divide by the factorial of the number of repeated objects, EXAMPLE 26 SOLUTION ‘The digits of the number 123411 are to be arranged so that the resulting number is odd, How many different odd numbers can be formed? ‘The resulting number will be odd if tends in a Lor3. Ifthe digits were all different we could arrange them in the following manner. The last position can be occupied by any of the four odd digits. ‘We can place any of the remaining five digits in the first position, four in the second position, three in the third position, ete = ]* 2 [2 ]) 74 Since we have three 1s we divide by 3! + No. of permutations = 2254 — go Find the total number of arrangements using all of the letters in the word MATHEMATICS. (a) How many of these arrangements start with M and end with M2 (b) How many of these arrangements have all the vowels together? MATHEMATICS has 11 letters including 2 Ms, 2 As, and 21s. ‘The total number of arrangements = (a) Treating the letters as if they are all different, we can place any of the two Ms in ‘he first position and the remaining M in the last position. The other nine letters ‘can be placed in the middle in 9! ways. ‘The number of permutations with M at the beginning and end = (b) "sting te foe ol one it we esis ange = 10.080 ways. 2a ‘Weccan arrange the vowels in $ 2 ways (note that there are two As). = 10080 12 = 120 960