PERMUTATIONS, COMBINATIONS,

AND THE BINOMIAL THEOREM

8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal and Permutations p. 515
8.2 Problem Solving with Permutations p. 527
8.3 Combinations p. 537
8.4 The Binomial Theorem p. 551

Chapter Review Practice p. 563

8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal and Permutations

Suppose you are at a restaurant that has a breakfast special, where you get
scrambled eggs, a choice of three types of protein, and a choice of two types of
toast.

Breakfast Enjoy our Scrambled Eggs, plus: Protein Choose one of: Toast Choose one of:
Special Bacon, Sausage, or Ham Wheat or Rye

1 Assuming you’ll order a complete breakfast, how many different order options do you have?
Visually show how you obtained your answer.

2 The restaurant server informs you that you can also choose between coffee or juice for your beverage.
How many different orders consisting of scrambled eggs, a protein, toast, and a beverage are possible?

3 The restaurant decides to get with the times and offer a plant-based protein option, a tofu patty. How
many complete order options are there now (including beverage), with four choices of protein?

The fundamental counting principal (also called the counting rule) is a way to determine the
number of outcomes in a problem involving different options at each stage.
If there are options for the first stage, then for the second, for the third (and so on…)
Then the number of possible outcomes is …

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8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal

Suppose you planning an outfit for a day at the park. You have four choices for pants, three
Worked choices for tops, and will wear either either sandals or sneakers on your feet.
Example
(a) How many possible outfit (b) How many possible outfit options do you
options do you have? have if you must wear sandals?
Solution: (a) Draw a blank for each stage: (b) Start the same way. But this time, there’s
only one option for the last blank:
Label what each
# of options # of options sandals or
represents  pants tops must be sandals!
for pants for tops sneakers!
Indicate the number possible outfits
of options for each possible
stage, and multiply: pants tops shoes outfits

Class Example 8.11 Applying the Fundamental Counting Principal

Two children, Amelia and Matteo, are each making a birthday card and have some design choices. They can choose
from blue, green, or white paper, using pencil crayons or markers for writing, and using chunky or fine glitter.
Amelia will not use green paper, as green is her least favorite colour. While Matteo has decided to use both
types of glitter, as he’s strongly in a glitter phase.
Determine the number of unique birthday card options for each child.

Fundamental Counting Principal with Restrictions

The example above involved a restriction – namely that the number of paper options for Amelia was restricted
to just two. Problems in this unit feature all sorts of interesting restrictions, to keep you on your toes! (And to
make the problems more interesting, and in need of more than just simple multiplication!)
In the following examples, watch for any restrictions, and how they affect the number of choices for any stage.

Website A has a security feature where users must choose a four-character passcode, consisting of
Worked two digits followed by two letters.
Example
The passcodes for website B are the same as for website A, except that also the first digit must be
odd, the first letter must not be O or I, and the second letter cannot be the same as the first letter.
Determine the number of passcodes that can be created for each website.
Solution: Website A: Draw four “blanks”, for each of the stages of the passcode:
There are 10 digits
 Multiply the (from 0 to 9) and 26
number of options letters (from A to Z!)
1st digit 2nd digit 1st letter 2nd letter

possible passcodes

Website B: Indicate the restriction associated with each option

 For the first letter, there are 26 letters, minus
the two restricted letters, for a total of 24.
Must be Any digit O or I first letter For the 2nd letter, O and I are now okay! But
1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 whatever the first letter was is restricted, so
possible passcodes there’s one less letter to choose from.

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 Chapter 8 – Perms, Combs, and the Binomial Theorem

Class Example 8.12 The Fundamental Counting Principal with Repeated Options

A short quiz consists of six multiple choice questions, each with four possible answers A, B, C, or D.
(a) Determine the number of (b) Suppose the teacher told the class that the answer for question 2 was
possible answer keys for the same as question 1, which was different than question 3.
this quiz. Determine the number of possible answer keys with these restrictions.

Class Example 8.13 Counting options for digits

(a) Determine the total number of three-digit numbers

that can be made. Hint: Consider the number of options
you’d have for the first digit – could it be any digit if you’re
writing a three-digit number?

(b) Determine the number of three-digit numbers that are

lower than 500.

(c) Determine the number of odd three-digit numbers that

are lower than 500.

Class Example 8.14 License Plates

The license plates in a particular jurisdiction originally consisted of any three letters, the first of which must be
A, followed by any three digits, the first of which must be either 8 or 9.
Recently this was changed, so that currently each license plate consists of any three non-repeating letters, the
first of which must not be O or I, followed by any three digits, the first of which cannot be 1 or 0.
Determine the number of additional license plate options available after the jurisdiction made this change.

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8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal

Arranging Elements in a Set of Objects

Many problems in this unit involve arranging all (or some) of the objects in a set of objects.
Two classic examples involve arranging people, and arranging letters:

How many ways can Adbel, Barack, Cecil, and How many unique arrangements can be
Dharia be seated in a row of four desks? made using the letters in the word FRUIT?

1st desk 2nd desk 3rd desk 4th desk 1st letter 2nd letter 3rd letter 4th letter 5th letter

Any of Abdel, Barrack, Cecil, or Dharia can take Option for the first letter are F, R, U, I, or T – 5 options.
the first desk – 4 options.
For each subsequent letter there is one less option, as
From there, there will be 3 students remaining for they are being used up as we proceed.
the second desk, and so on.
Notice that with each example above, we start with the number of objects we had to start, then decreased by
one as we multiplied down to 1.

The number of ways to arrange objects is given by: 1 2 ⋯ 1

So for the desks example above, the solution We refer to this product as ! “ factorial”
is !. For the FRUIT example, it’s !

You can calculate factorials on your calculator.

Use the button, and select the PROB menu 

Then select #4

Beats keying in 5 4 3 2 1
(exclamation point)

Class Example 8.15 Arranging a group of people

Four boys and four girls are to be arranged in a single row for a picture. How many ways can this be done if
the boys and girls must alternate? Hint: Consider two scenarios, start with a boy or start with a girl

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 Chapter 8 – Perms, Combs, and the Binomial Theorem

Class Example 8.16 Arranging Letters

In how many ways could the letters in the word SENIOR be arranged if:
(a) The first letter must be S (b) The first and last letters must be vowels
(that is, E, I, or O)

Simplifying Factorial Notation Expressions

We saw how factorial notation allows us to concisely express long calculations.

For example, 6! 6 5 4 3 2 1
When two factorials are expressed as quotients, they can be simplified without a calculator.
(a) ! ( + )!
For example (b)
! !
Instead of expanding all the
Start expanding 7 6 5! way down to 1, express the ( + 1) ! Expand the numerator, as
remaining product as 5! ! it’s larger.
the larger term…. 5!
… then cancel out with the
7 6 5! in the denominator. + After the ( + 1), this is just !
*Note that + ! +1 1 ( 2) …

this is ! (cancels out)

Class Example 8.17A Simplifying Expressions with Factorials

SET I - Simplify each of the following, to evaluate without a calculator:

8! 10! 9!
(a) (b) (c)
6! 7! 8 6!

SET II – Determine the simplest expression for each of the following.

! ( + 1)!
(d) (e)
( 2)! ( + 3)!

Class Example 8.17B Solving an Equation with Factorials

Algebraically solve ( + 1)!

42
the equation: ( 1)!

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8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal

Defining Permutations

We’ve already looked at counting the number of ways to arrange a set of objects. (Or, as below, people!)

How many ways can Adbel, Barack, Cecil, and Dharia be There are 4! ways to
seated in a row of four desks? arrange these students

 Another way of saying this is there are 24 permutations of these students

A permutation is an arrangement of all or part of a set of objects, where order matters.

For example: A, B, C and C, A, B are two different permutations of the first three letters in
the alphabet.
The 6 Permutations, or Arrangements, #, %, & %, #, & &, #, %
In all there are:
of the letters , , and #, &, % %, &, # &, %, #
3! permutations

Permutations of Some (not all!) of the Available Objects

Suppose 7 students are running in a race:
1. Abdel We’ve already seen how the total number of possible ways the
2. Barack students can finish, 1st through 7th place, is 7!
3. Cecil That is, there are 7! or 5040 permutations of all of the students.
4. Dharia Now, how many ways could we award a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medal among the 7 racers?
5. Eve
A B C D E F G
6. Francis
7. Garreth Note how if we start at “1st place” we have 7 choices,
1st 2nd 3rd
7 choices 5 choices which leaves 6 choices for 2nd, and 5 choices for 3rd.
6 choices

By Fundamental Counting Principal there are: 7 6 5 ways to award the medals.

Another Way to Look at This: 7! 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The part we don’t want is 4!
This is the part we want

So, the number of permutations of the top 3 students, from a group of 7, is:
Total number
7! of students,
Arrangements of all the students 7! 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
or… (7 3)!
“Leftover” students / we don’t want 4! 4 3 2 1
# of students being arranged, '

Note that we can put this in our calculator as: *()

To enter in your calculator, key in

Key in then

We can verify using factorials:

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 Chapter 8 – Perms, Combs, and the Binomial Theorem

The Permutation Formula

From the racing example on the pervious page, we say that the number of ways ' items can be arranged, from a
larger group of items, is:
# of ways to arrange all items !
# of PERMUTATIONS That is: +'
# of ways to arrange items not wanted ' !

Consider the letters in the word OLYMPICS. Use the permutations formula to determine:
Worked
Example (a) The number of arrangements that (b) The number of arrangements that can be
can be made using all of the letters made using any three of the letters
Solution: (a) There are 8 letters ( ), from (b) There are 8 letters ( ), from
which we wish to arrange 8 (,). which we wish to arrange 3 (,).
8! 8!
-(- -()
8 8 ! 8 3 !
Note that 0! is 8! # of letters not 8!
equal to 1 0! being arranged 5!
8! 8 7 6

Defining 0!
In the example above (a), from fundamental counting principal we
know that the number of arrangements of all 8 letters is 8!
Now, in order for our /(. formula to work, we must define ! to equal 1.

 For many straightforward permutation's questions like these, we often stick with the fundamental
counting principal. (That is, we don’t often use /(. .)
For the worked example above, our solutions could look like: (a) 0! (b) 0

Class Example 8.18 Fundamental Counting Problems as Permutations

A drama teacher is casting for a play with 3 roles for senior students and 2 roles for junior students. 5 senior
students and 6 juniors out. Determine the number of ways the teacher can assign the roles using:
(a) The Fundamental Counting Principal (b) Permutations

Class Example 8.19 License Plates, Revisited

License plates in a particular jurisdiction consist of three different letters followed by two different numbers. If
the digit 0 and the letters I and O are not used, determine how many distinct license plates are possible by:
(a) The Fundamental Counting Principal (b) Permutations

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 8.1 Practice Questions

1. A father is preparing a pasta for his children’s meal.

- For the pasta he has a choice of spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, or orzo.
- For sauce, he has marinara (red) or alfredo (white).
- And for meat he has chicken, ground beef, or shrimp.
(a) Assuming he makes one choice each for the type of pasta, sauce, and
meat, determine the number of different meal options he can make.

(b) The dad remembers his daughter will not eat anything with white sauce.
Determine the number of meal options with this restriction.

2. A child has made an elaborate fort in his room, that has five entrances. How many ways can the child
(a) Enter and exit the fort through any entrance.

(b) Enter the fort and exit through a different entrance.

(c) Enter and exit through the same entrance.

3. Five students enter a classroom with five desks spaced in a single row.

(a) How many ways can the students be arranged in the desks?

(b) How many ways can the students be arranged, if one of the students,
Mary, takes the closest desk to the door.

4. Nine athletes line up for a race where the top three will win ribbons.
(a) How many ways can the ribbons be awarded?

(b) How many ways can the ribbons be awarded if we know

Buster will finish first?
(c) How many ways can the ribbons be awarded if we know
Buster will finish either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd?

5. A teacher gives a test where the first two questions are “True / False”, followed by 7 multiple choice
questions with possible answers A, B, C, or D.
(a) How many different answer keys are there?

(b) The teacher tells his students that true / false questions have the same
answer. Further, he mentions that the 2nd multiple choice question has a
different answer than the first multiple choice question.
Determine the number of possible answer keys with these restrictions.

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 Chapter 8 – Perms, Combs, and the Binomial Theorem

6. A four-character ID code can consist of any letter other than I or O, followed by any three digits.
(a) How many unique ID codes satisfy these conditions?

(b) Suppose the conditions were changed so that the three

digits all had to be different. How many unique ID codes
would there be with this new condition added?

7. (a) Using each digit at most once, how many different even 3-digit
numbers can be made using 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5?

(b) Using each digit at most once, how many different even 3-digit
numbers greater than 500 can be made using 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7?

(c) Using any digits, how many odd 3-digit numbers can be made
that are less than 500? Assume digits can be used more than once.

8. (a) How many five-digit numbers can be made that have

no repeating digits?

(b) How many odd five-digit numbers can be made?

(c) How many odd five-digit numbers can be made that

are less than 40 000?

9. The license plates in a particular jurisdiction consist of any three non-repeating

letters, where neither “I” nor “O” can be used at all, followed by any three digits,
the first of which cannot be “0” or “1”.
How many unique license plates satisfy these conditions?

10. The license plates in a different jurisdiction consist of any three letters, the first of which cannot be “I” or
“O”, followed by any four non-repeating digits, the first of which cannot be “0” or “1”.
How many unique license plates satisfy these conditions?

Answers to Practice Questions on the previous page

1. (a) 24 (b) 12 2. (a) 25 (b) 20 (c) 5 3. (a) 120 (b) 24 4. (a) 504 (b) 56 (c) 168
5. (a) 65 536 (b) 24 576

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8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal

11. The letters of the word are spelled out on a fridge.

how many 5-letter arrangements can be made with those letters where:
(a) The first letter must be a “M”

(b) The first letter must be a consonant

(c) All of the letters must be consonants

(d) The first letter must be “M” and the last

letter must be a vowel

(e) The first letter must be “M”, and the second

and third letters must be vowels.

12. Monty had 3 pennies, 2 nickels, 2 quarters, and 4 loonies in his pocket.

He wishes to determine how many unique sums of money he can make with the coins. For the
pennies, he correctly reasons that he has three options; he can use 0, 1, 2, or all 3 of the coins.

If Monty applies the same reasoning to all types of coins, determine how
many different sums of money he can make, consisting of at least one coin.

13. If all of the letters in the word STANLEY are used, then the number of different arrangements that are
possible that begin and end with a consonant S, T, N, or L is given by:

A. 4! · 4! · 2
 Exam
Style
B. 4 · 5! · 3
C. 4 · 4! · 3
D. 4! · 3! · 2

14. A passcode must contain 2 digits 0 through 9 followed by any two of the 26 letters. Passcodes are
case sensitive, meaning upper and lower-case letters count as different characters.
The number of distinct passcodes that can be made is:
A. 117 000
 Exam
Style
B. 135 200
C. 238 680
D. 270 400

Answers to Practice Questions on the previous page

6. (a) 24 000 (b) 17 280 7. (a) 6 (b) 16 (c) 200 8. (a) 27 216 (b) 45 000 (c) 15 000 9. 9 715 200
10. 65 415 168

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 Chapter 8 – Perms, Combs, and the Binomial Theorem

15. License plates in a particular state consist of any 3 letters, where the first or last letter cannot be I, O, or Q,
followed by any three digits, the first of which cannot be 0 or 1. Any of the 26 letters can be used,
License plates in a particular province have the same conditions as the state, however no letter and no digit
can be used more than once.
The difference between the number of different license plates possible in the state and the number possible
in the province is:

A. 1 807 616
 Exam
Style
B. 1 516 160
C. 4 008 256
D. 4 882 624

16. PINs for a login card can be formed using only the digits 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, or 9, with no repetitions.
(a) Determine the number of 4-digit PINs that can be formed.

(b) Determine the number of 5-digit PINs that can be formed.

(c) Use your results from (a) and (b) to determine the number
of PINs that can formed consisting of either 4 or 5 digits.

17. A child has five different marbles, each of different color. He is arranging the marbles in a single row.
(a) Determine the number of arrangements that can be made
using any four marbles.

(b) Determine the number of arrangements that can be made

using at least four marbles.

18. Six students (4 grade 11s and 2 grade 10s) are lined up at the school cafeteria. How many ways can
they be arranged if:
(a) Eva and Dan must be first and second in line, respectively.

(b) Eva and Dan must be first and second in line, with either
of them in the first spot.

(c) The first two students must be grade 11s.

Disregard restriction from (a)

Answers to Practice Questions on the previous page

11. (a) 360 (b) 1800 (c) 120 (d) 120 (e) 24 12. 4 3 3 5 1 2

13. B 14. D

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8.1 The Fundamental Counting Principal

19. Express each of the following factorial expressions in simplest form, then evaluate.

7! 12! 49!
(a) (b) (c)
5! 9! 3! 50!

20. Simplify each of the following. (Do not expand – leave answers in product form)
! ( + 2)! ( 1)!
(a) (b) (c)
( 1)! ! ( + 1)!

21. Use the formula for /(. to determine the simplified form of:
(a) /(3 (b) /(/45 (c) /(/43

22. Algebraically solve each equation:

( + 1)!
(a) 5 (b) /(3 42
!

Answers to Practice Questions on the previous page and this page

15. C 16. (a) 360 (b) 720 (c) 1080 17. (a) 120 (b) 240 18. (a) 24 (b) 48 (c) 288

19. (a) 7 6 (b) 2 11 10 (c) ⁄ 20. (a) (b) ( + )( + ) (c) /( + )

1
21. (a) ( 1) (b) ! (c) !
2
22. (a) +1 5  (b) !⁄ 2 ! 42  1 42 

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