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Permutations and
Combinations
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In this section, we summarize some basics on combinations. In

particular, we investigate two questions:

(1) How many possibilities exist of sequencing the elements

of a set?
(2) How many possibilities exist of selecting a certain number
of elements from a set?

Let us start with the determination of the number of possible

sequences formed with a set of elements. To this end, we first
introduce the notion of a permutation.

Definition 1.19 Let M = {a1, a2, . . . , an}. Any sequence ( ap1 , ap2 ,
. . . , apn ) of all elements of set M is called a p
 pe
er mutati on.
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 In order to determine the number of permutations, we

introduce n! (read:
(read: n factorial) which
wh ich is defined as follows:
follows : n!
= 1 2  . . . ( n − 1)  n for n ≥ 1.
・ ・ ・ ・

 For n = 0, we define 0! = 1.

Given 6 cities, how many possibilities

poss ibilities exist of organizing a tour
starting from one city visiting each ofo f the remaining cities exactly
once and to return to the initial city? Assume
Assume that 1 city is the
starting point, all remaining 5 cities can be visited in arbitrary
order.

P(5) = 5! = 1 ・ 2 ・ . . .  5 = 120

・
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In a school, a teacher wishes to put 13 textbooks of three

types (mathematics, physics, and chemistry textbooks)
on a shelf. How many possibilities exist of arranging the
13 books on a shelf when there are 4 copies of a
mathematicss textbook, 6 copies of a physics textbook and
mathematic
3 copies of a chemistry textbook? The problem is to find
the number of possible permutations with non-
distinguishable (copies of the same textbook) elements.
elements.