CHAPTER 7: COMBINATORICS

Counting seems very simple; but it can be really

quite complex.
Combinatorial analysis is concerned with
determining the number of logical possibilities
of some event without necessarily enumerating
each case, lest we run out of space and time.
In this chapter we shall discuss three basic
counting rules:
• the fundamental principle of counting
• the permutations rules
• the combinations rules.
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 CHAPTER 7: COMBINATORICS
Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Apply the fundamental principle of counting
𝑛
• Expand a power of a binomial 𝑎 + 𝑏 using Pascal’s triangle
• Use the Binomial Theorem to find the expansion of 𝑎 + 𝑏 𝑛 for specified a, b
and n (factorial notation)
• Find a specific term of a binomial expansion.
• Use the Binomial Theorem directly to prove certain types of identities
• Compute the number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time
• Compute the number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time
• Apply the theory of permutations and combinations to solve counting problems
• Compute the number of partitions of distinguishable and indistinguishable objects

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 The Fundamental Principle of Counting
If some event can occur in 𝑛1 different ways, and a
second event can occur in 𝑛2 different ways, a third
event can occur in 𝑛3 different ways, and so on and so
on; then the number of ways the events can collectively
occur is
𝑛1 × 𝑛2 × 𝑛3 × ⋯
Example: A restaurant menu has a choice of four starters,
10 main courses and six desserts. What is the total
number of possible different meals that can be ordered
from this restaurant?

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 Solution: There are three events:
starter (𝑛1 = 4), main course (𝑛2 = 10) and dessert (𝑛3 = 6)
The total number of possible (unique) meals (each
consisting of a starter, a main and a dessert) that can be
ordered is 4 × 10 × 6 = 240.
Exercise: A computer store sells 6 different CPUs, 4
different monitors, 5 different printers, and 3 different
multimedia packages. How many different computer
systems are available?

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 Factorial Notation
The notation 𝑛!, which reads “𝑛 factorial” denotes the product of
all whole numbers from 1 to 𝑛. That is,
𝑛! = 1 × 2 × 3 × ⋯ × 𝑛 − 2 𝑛 − 1 𝑛
with 1! = 1 and 0! = 1.
Examples:
1. 3! = 1 × 2 × 3 = 6
2. 5! = 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 = 120
8! 1×2×3×4×5×6×7×8
3. = = 8 × 7 = 56
6! 1×2×3×4×6

12! 9!×10×11×12
4. = = 10 × 11 × 12 = 1320
9! 9!

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 Exercises
1. Compute
13! 7!
a) 7! (b) (c)
11! 12!
2. Write in terms of factorials:
1
a) 26 ∙ 27 (b)
14∙13∙12

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 𝒏
Binomial Coefficients
𝒓
𝑛
The binomial coefficients, denoted by , are defined by
𝑟
𝑛 𝑛!
=
𝑟 𝑟! 𝑛 − 𝑟 !
Examples:
8 8! 8! 7×8×6! 7×8
a) = = = = = 28
2 2! 8−2 ! 2!6! 2!6! 1×2
10 10! 8×9×10
b) = = = 120
3 3!7! 1×2×3

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 Exercises
1. Compute
9 15 13 16
a) (b) (c) (d)
4 5 1 3
2. Simplify
𝒏! (𝒏−𝟐)!
a) (b)
𝒏−𝟏 ! 𝒏!
3. Suppose a state’s license plate consists of 3 numbers followed by 3 letters. However, no two
letters or numbers can be the same (i.e. no repetition is allowed). How many different license
plates can be made?

4. Prove that
𝒏 𝒏
a) =
𝒓 𝒏−𝒓
𝒏+𝟏 𝒏 𝒏
b) = +
𝒓 𝒓−𝟏 𝒓

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 Pascal’s Triangle
𝑛
The numbers are called binomial coefficients since they
𝑟
appear as the coefficients in the expansion of (𝑎 + 𝑏)𝑛 . The
coefficients in the expansions of the successive powers of 𝑎 + 𝑏
can be arranged in a triangular array of numbers, called Pascal’s
triangle, as shown:

DETAILED NOTES ON BINOMIAL EXPANSIONS ARE ATTACHED SEPARATELY

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 Permutations
An arrangement of a set of n objects or elements in a given order is called a
permutation of the objects (taken all the n objects at a time).
Any arrangement of any number of these objects, say r, in a given order is called
a permutation of n objects taken r at a time.
Consider, for example, the set of letters a, b, c and d. Then
a) abcd, abdc, acbd, acdb, adcb, adbc, bacd, badc, bcad, bcda, bdac, bdca,
cabd, cadb, cbad, cbda, cdab, cdba
are all the possible permutations of the 4 letters (taken all at a time).
b) abc, acb, abd, adb, acd, adc, bac, bca, bad, bda, bcd, bdc, cab, cba, cbd, cdb
are all the possible permutations of the 4 letters taken 3 at a time).
c) ab, ba, ac, ca, ad, da, bc, cb, bd, db, cd, dc
are permutations of the 4 letters taken 2 at a time.
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 Permutations
The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is
denoted by 𝑃 𝑛, 𝑟 , 𝑃𝑛,𝑟 , etc., is defined by
𝑛!
𝑃 𝑛, 𝑟 =
𝑛−𝑟 !
In the special case in which 𝑟 = 𝑛, we have
𝑃 𝑛, 𝑟 = 𝑛 𝑛 − 1 𝑛 − 2 ⋯ 3 ∙ 2 ∙ 1 = 𝑛!
In other words, there are 𝑛! Permutations of 𝑛 objects (taken all
at a time).
For instance, there are 3! = 1 ∙ 2 ∙ 3 = 6 different permutations
of the three letters 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐. Verify.

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 Exercises
1. Lynn is taking thirteen pre-schoolers to the
park. How many ways can the children line
up, in single file, to board the van?
2. How many different permutations, of four
letters, can be made from the letters of the
word LOVE
3. How many different permutations, taking 3
at a time, can be made from the 4 letters
above?

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 4. In how many ways can we assign 8 people
to eight different jobs?
5. In how many ways can 4 mathematics
books, 3 history books, 3 chemistry books
and 2 sociology books be arranged on a
shelf so that all books of the same subject
are together?

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 6.The are 4 bus lines between A
and B; and 3 bus lines between B
and C. In how many ways can a
commuter travel
a) by bus from A to C via B?
b)roundtrip by bus from A to C via
B?
c) roundtrip by bus from A to C via
B, without using any bus line
more than once?
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 7. In how many ways can a
party of seven people
arrange themselves in a
row of seven chairs?
8.Find n if (a) 𝑃 𝑛, 2 = 72 ;
(b) 𝑃 𝑛, 4 = 42𝑃(𝑛, 2) ;
(c) 2𝑃 𝑛, 2 + 50 = 𝑃(2𝑛, 2)
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 Permutations with Repetitions; Partitions
Quite often, we want to find the number of
permutations of objects some of which are alike.
The general formula is as follows:
The number of permutations of n objects of
which 𝒏𝟏 are alike in one respect, 𝒏𝟐 are alike in
another respect, …, 𝒏𝒓 are alike in yet another
respect, is
𝑛!
𝑛1 ! 𝑛2 ! ⋯ 𝑛𝑟 !

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 Example
1. Find the number of distinct permutations that can be
formed from all the letters of each word:
a) RADAR
b) UNUSUAL
c) STATISTICS
d) SOCIOLOGICAL
e) CHARACTERISTICS
f) MISSISSIPPI

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 Ordered Partitions
A partition is ordered if different subsets of the
partition have at least one characteristic that
distinguishes one from the other.
A set with n elements can be partitioned into r
ordered cells of 𝒏𝟏 , 𝒏𝟐 , ⋯ , 𝒏𝒓 elements in the
following number of ways
𝑛!
𝑛1 ! 𝑛2 ! ⋯ 𝑛𝑟 !
where 𝒏𝟏 + 𝒏𝟐 + ⋯ + 𝒏𝒓 = 𝒏

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 Example 1
Six friends Alan, Cassie, Maggie, Seth, Roger and Beth
have volunteered to help at a fundraising show. One of
them will hand out programs at the door, two will run a
refreshments stand and three will help guests find their
seats. In assigning the friends to their duties, we need
to divide or partition the set of 6 friends into disjoint
subsets of 3, 2 and 1. There are a number of different
ways to do this, a few of which are on the next slide:

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 Example 2

If we wish to partition the group of six friends

into three groups of two, and assign two to hand
out programs, two to the refreshments stand
and two as ushers, we have an ordered partition
because the groups have different assignments.
The following 6 partitions are counted as
different ordered partitions:

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 Exercises
1. A group of 12 new recruits at the Car Assembly Company will be
split into 3 groups. Four will be sent to the North, three to the
South and five to the East. In how many ways can the group of
new recruits be divided in this way? Ans: 27 720
2. In how many ways may 9 toys be divided among 4 children, if the
youngest child is to get 3 toys and each of the other children 2
toys?
3. A pre-school teacher will split her class of 15 pupils into three
groups with 5 pupils in each group. One group will colour, a
second group will play in the sand box and the third group will
take a nap. In how many ways can the teacher form the groups?
Ans: 756 756
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 Unordered Partitions
A partition is unordered when no distinction is made between
subsets (that is, the order of the subsets does not matter).
We use the following principle to determine the number of
unordered partitions:
The number of unordered pairs of n distinct elements into 𝒏𝟏 cells
containing 1 element each; 𝒏𝟐 cells containing 2 elements each,
⋯ , 𝒏𝒓 cells containing r elements each is
𝑛!
[(1!)𝑛1 𝑛1 !] ∙ [(2!)𝑛2 𝑛2 !] ⋯ [(𝑟!)𝑛𝑟 𝑛𝑟 !]
where 1(𝑛1 ) + 2(𝑛2 ) + ⋯ + 𝑟(𝑛𝑟 ) = 𝑛

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 Example
Suppose we wish to split our group of six friends Alan, Cassie,
Maggie, Seth, Roger and Beth into three groups with two people in
each group. In this case we do not have any particular task for each
group in mind and we are interested in only finding out how many
different ways we can divide the group of 6 into pairs. We
immediately observe that the six pairings:

are just but the same unordered partition and is therefore counted as a
single unordered partition. Hence a set of 6 6!
elements can be partitioned
into 3 unordered subsets of 2 elements in 2! 33! = 15 ways.

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 Exercises
1. The draw for the first round of a soccer tournament
is about to be made. There are 32 teams in this
competition. In how many ways can they be paired
up for the matches in the first round.
2. Find the number partitions of a set of 20 elements
into subsets of 2,2,2,4,4,3,3. No distinction will be
made between the subsets except for their size.
Ans: 611 080 470 000

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 3. In how many ways may 9 toys be sorted into a pile
of 3 toys, a pile of 2 toys, a pile of 2 toys and
another pile of 2 toys? (compare with exercise 2 in
the previous section)
4. A math teacher wishes to split a class of thirty
students into groups. All groups will work on the
same problem. Five groups will have 4 students,
two groups will have 3 students and two groups
will have 2 students. In how many way can the
teacher assign students to the groups?
Ans: 481 947 949 543 123 000 000
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 Combinations
• In a permutation, the order of the selected elements is essential.
In contrast, a combination of given objects means any selection
(groping) of such objects without regard to order.
• Each separate grouping of the r objects is called a combination.
• The number of ways of selecting r objects from n objects, not
considering order of selection, denoted by, 𝐶(𝑛, 𝑟), is given by
𝑛!
𝐶 𝑛, 𝑟 =
𝑟! 𝑛−𝑟 !
Example: How many committees of three can be formed from
eight people?
8! 8!
Solution: 𝐶 8,3 = = = 56 different committees can
3! 8−3 ! 3!5!
be formed.

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 Mixed Exercises
1.How many samples of 4 bolts can be drawn from a lot
of 80 bolts?
2.In how many different ways can we choose a
committee of 3 from 20 nominees?
3.A company produces fruit juice in 10 different flavours.
A local supermarket sells the product, but has only
sufficient shelf space to display three of the company’s
10 fruit juice flavours at a time. How many possible
combinations (groupings) of three flavours can the fruit
juice company display on the local supermarket shelf ?
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 Mixed Exercises
4. For a balanced investment portfolio consisting of
four equities, an investor must select only one
equity from each of nine economic sectors
(labelled 1 to 9). How many different portfolios
consisting of four equities can be selected?
5. A selection of 10 tourist attractions is available in
Cape Town. How many separate selections are
there of three attractions, not considering the
order in which the three attractions are visited?

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 6.A planning committee for a major development
project, such as a shopping mall, must consist of two
architects and four engineers. There are four
architects and seven engineers available from which
to choose.
a)How many different combinations of committee
members can be formed?
b)If the committee must also include an environmental
lawyer, of which there are two available, how many
different committee compositions are now possible?

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7. There are 12 students in a class.
a) In how many ways can the 12 students perform three
different tasks if 4 students are to perform each task?
b) In how many ways can the 12 students be
partitioned into 3 teams, so that each team contains
4 students?
c) In how many ways can the 12 students be
partitioned into 4 teams, such two teams contain 4
students each and two teams contain 2 students
each?
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 8. In how many different ways can we select a committee consisting
of 3 engineers, 2 biologists, and 2 chemists from a pool of 10
engineers, 5 biologists, and 6 chemists?
9. A shipment of 10 television sets includes 3 that are defective.
In how many ways can a hotel purchase 4 of these sets and
receive at least 2defective sets?
10. Ten people are going to watch a world cup match in three cars
that will hold 2, 3, and 5 passengers respectively. In how many
ways is it possible to transport the 9 people to the stadium
using all cars?
11.A college plays 12 football games during a season. In how many
ways can the team end the season with 7 wins, 3 losses, and 2
ties?
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 Tree Diagrams

A (rooted) tree diagrams augments the

fundamental principle of counting by
exhibiting all possible outcomes of a
sequence of events where each event
can occur in a finite number of ways.

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 Illustrative Examples
1. A café has a lunch special consisting of an egg or a
ham sandwich (E or H); milk, juice, or coffee (M, J,
or C); and yogurt or pie for dessert (Y or P).
a) One item is chosen from each category. List all
possible meals. Use a tree diagram to organize
your work.
b) How many possible meals are there? Count the
ends of the branches of your tree diagram.
c) How can you determine the number of possible
meals without listing all of them?
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 2. A computer store sells 3 different computers,
2 different monitors, 3 different printers, and
2 different multimedia packages. How many
different computer systems are available?
3. A golfer has 4 different hats, 3 gloves and 2
pairs of shoes to pick from for his round of
golf. In how many ways can he make his
choices?

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4. You are ordering dinner at a restaurant. How many ways can you order
a meal if you have two choices for a drink ( coffee or tea ), three main
courses to choose from ( chicken, beef, or fish ) and two desserts ( pie
or cake ) ?
a) Use a tree diagram
b) Use the fundamental counting principle
5. Suppose you own a small deli. You offer 4 types of meat (ham,
turkey, roast beef, and pastrami) and 3 types of bread (white,
wheat, and rye). How many choices do your customers have for a
meat sandwich?
a) Use a tree diagram.
b) Use the fundamental counting principle
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6.When you get ready to get dressed for school you open
your closet to find that you have the following choices:
a red, blue, or white shirt; jeans or sweatpants; tennis
shoes or sandals. How many different outfits could be
made with these choices?
7.The school cafeteria restaurant offers a lunch combo
for $6 where a person can order: 1 sandwich (chicken,
turkey, or grilled cheese); 1 side (fruit, yogurt, or soup);
and 1 drink (juice, or milk). Determine the possible
number of lunch combos.

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 Limitation of Tree Diagrams

In cases where there are a large number of

operations being performed together, it is not
feasible to construct a tree diagram. It is more
reasonable to use the Fundamental Counting
Principle to determine the number of ways of
performing all the tasks together.

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