Combinatorial Mathematics

Lesson 7b
FACTORIAL

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 The Notation of Factorial
Factorial
---- the product of the first n positive
integers
i.e. n！ = n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)….
0！is defined to be 1.
i.e. 0！= 1
 The
Counting
Principle
 Counting Outcomes
Have you ever seen or heard the Subway or
Starbucks advertising campaigns where
they talk about the 10,000 different
combinations of ways to order a sub or
drink?

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 Counting Outcomes
Have you ever seen or heard the Subway or
Starbucks advertising campaigns where
they talk about the 10,000 different
combinations of ways to order a sub or
drink?
When companies like these make
these claims they are using all the
different condiments and ways to
serve a drink.
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 Counting Outcomes
- These companies can use (2) ideas related
to combinations to make these claims:

(1) TREE DIAGRAMS

(2) THE FUNDAMENTAL

COUNTING PRINCIPLE

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 Counting Outcomes
(1) TREE DIAGRAMS

A tree diagram is a diagram used to show

the total number of possible outcomes in
a probability experiment.

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 Counting Outcomes
(2) THE COUNTING PRINCIPLE

The Counting Principle uses multiplication of

the number of ways each event in an
experiment can occur to find the number
of possible outcomes in a sample space.

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 Counting Outcomes
Example 1: Tree Diagrams.
A new polo shirt is released in 4 different
colors and 5 different sizes. How many
different color and size combinations are
available to the public?

Colors – (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow)

Styles – (S, M, L, XL, XXL)

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 A Different Way
Example 1: The Counting Principle.
A new polo shirt is released in 4 different
colors and 5 different sizes. How many
different color and size combinations are
available to the public?

Colors – (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow)

Styles – (S, M, L, XL, XXL)

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 Counting Outcomes

Example 1: The Fundamental Counting

Principle.
Answer.

Number of Number of Number of

Possible Styles Possible Sizes Possible Comb.

4 x 5 = 20

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 Counting Outcomes
 Tree Diagrams and The Fundamental
Counting Principle are two different
algorithms for finding sample space of a
probability problem.

 However, tree diagrams work better for

some problems and the fundamental
counting principle works better for other
problems.

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So when should I use a tree diagram or the
fundamental counting principle?
- A tree diagram is used to:
(1) show sample space;
(2) count the number of preferred outcomes.

- The fundamental counting principle can be

used to:
(1) count the total number of outcomes.

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 Counting Outcomes
Example 2: Tree Diagram.
Tamara spins a spinner two
times. What is her probability
of spinning a green on the
first spin and a blue on the second spin?

You use a tree diagram because you want a

specific outcome … not the TOTAL number of
outcomes.
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 Counting Outcomes
Example 2: Tree Diagram.
Tamara spins a spinner two
times. What is her probability
of spinning a green on the
first spin and a blue on the second spin?

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 Counting Outcomes
Example 3: The Counting Principle.
If a lottery game is made up of three digits
from 0 to 9, what is the total number of
outcomes?

You use the Counting Principle because you

want the total number of outcomes. How
many possible digits are from 0 to 9?

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 Counting Outcomes
Example 3: The Fundamental Counting
Principle.
If a lottery game is made up of three digits
from 0 to 9, what is the total number of
possible outcomes?
# of Possible # of Possible # of Possible # of Possible
Digits Digits Digits Outcomes

10 x 10 x 10 = 1000

What chance would you have to win if you played one time?
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Guided Practice: Tree or Counting Principle?

(1) How many outfits are possible from a pair of

jean or khaki shorts and a choice of yellow,
white, or blue shirt?

(2) Scott has 5 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and 4

pairs of socks. How many different outfits can
Scott choose with a shirt, pair of pants, and pair
of socks?

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 Example 1
• You are purchasing a new car. Using the following
manufacturers, car sizes and colors, how many
different ways can you select one manufacturer,
one car size and one color?

Manufacturer: Ford, GM, Chrysler

Car size: small, medium
Color: white(W), red(R), black(B), green(G)

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 Solution
• There are three choices of manufacturer, two
choices of car sizes, and four colors. So, the
number of ways to select one manufacturer, one
car size and one color is:

3 ●2●4 = 24 ways.

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Ex. 2 Using the Fundamental Counting Principle

• The access code for a car’s security system consists

of four digits. Each digit can be 0 through 9. How
many access codes are possible if each digit can be
repeated?

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PERMUTATION AND COMBINATION

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Permutations
 Fundamental counting principle:
m1*m2*m3*…mk
• At a restaurant, one can choose from 6 salads, 3
meats, 4 vegetables, and 2 desserts. How many
different salad-meat-vegetable-dessert
combinations?

6*3*4*2 = 144

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 Permutations
• A permutation is an ordered arrangement of the
elements of some set S
– Let S = {a, b, c}
– c, b, a is a permutation of S
– b, c, a is a different permutation of S
• An r-permutation is an ordered arrangement of r
elements of the set
– A♦, 5♥, 7♣, 10♠, K♠ is a 5-permutation of the set of cards
• The notation for the number of r-permutations: P(n,r)
– The poker hand is one of P(52,5) permutations

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 Permutations
• Number of poker hands (5 cards):
– P(52,5) = 52*51*50*49*48 = 311,875,200
• Number of (initial) blackjack hands (2 cards):
– P(52,2) = 52*51 = 2,652
• r-permutation notation: P(n,r)
– The poker hand is one of P(52,5) permutations

P(n, r )  n(n 1)(n  2)...(n  r  1)

n!

(n  r )!

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 r-permutations example
• How many ways are there for 5 people in this class
to give presentations?

• There are 27 students in the class

– P(27,5) = 27*26*25*24*23 = 9,687,600
– Note that the order they go in does matter in this
example!

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 Permutation formula proof
• There are n ways to choose the first element
– n-1 ways to choose the second
– n-2 ways to choose the third
–…
– n-r+1 ways to choose the rth element

• By the product rule, that gives us:

P(n,r) = n(n-1)(n-2)…(n-r+1)

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 Permutations vs. r-permutations
• r-permutations: Choosing an ordered 5 card hand is
P(52,5)
– When people say “permutations”, they almost always
mean r-permutations
• But the name can refer to both

• Permutations: Choosing an order for all 52 cards is

P(52,52) = 52!
– Thus, P(n,n) = n!

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• How many permutations of {a, b, c, d, e, f, g} end
with a?
– Note that the set has 7 elements

• The last character must be a

– The rest can be in any order
• Thus, we want a 6-permutation on the set {b, c, d,
e, f, g}
• P(6,6) = 6! = 720
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• How many ways are there to sit 6 people around a circular table, where
seatings are considered to be the same if they can be obtained from each
other by rotating the table?

• First, place the first person in the north-most chair

– Only one possibility
• Then place the other 5 people
– There are P(5,5) = 5! = 120 ways to do that
• By the product rule, we get 1*120 =120

• Alternative means to answer this:

• There are P(6,6)=720 ways to seat the 6 people around the table
• For each seating, there are 6 “rotations” of the seating
• Thus, the final answer is 720/6 = 120

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• A baseball team consists of nine players. Find the
number of ways of arranging the first four positions
in the batting order if the pitcher is excluded.

P(8,4) = 1680

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• If 8 basketball teams are in a tournament, find the
number of different ways that first, second, & third
place can be decided, assuming ties are not
allowed.

P(8,3) = 336

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Distinguished Permutations &
Combinations
 Permutations vs. Combinations
• Both are ways to count the possibilities
• The difference between them is whether order
matters or not
• Consider a poker hand:
– A♦, 5♥, 7♣, 10♠, K♠
• Is that the same hand as:
– K♠, 10♠, 7♣, 5♥, A♦
• Does the order the cards are handed out matter?
– If yes, then we are dealing with permutations
– If no, then we are dealing with combinations

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 Combinations
• What if order doesn’t matter?
• In poker, the following two hands are equivalent:
– A♦, 5♥, 7♣, 10♠, K♠
– K♠, 10♠, 7♣, 5♥, A♦

• The number of r-combinations of a set with n

elements, where n is non-negative and 0≤r≤n is:

n!
C (n, r ) 
r!(n  r )!
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 Distinguishable Permutations:
• Of two arrangements of objects, one arrangement
cannot be obtained from the other by rearranging like
objects.
• Thus, BBBWR & BRBWB are distinguishable
permutations.
• If, in a collection of n objects, n are alike of one kind,
n2 are alike of another kind, …,nk are alike of a
further kind, the # of distinguishable permutations is
n!
n1! n 2!...nk!
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• Find the number of distinguishable permutations of
the letters in the word MISSISSIPPI.

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 Combinations example
• How many different poker hands are there (5
cards)?
52! 52! 52 * 51* 50 * 49 * 48 * 47!
C (52,5)     2,598,960
5!(52  5)! 5!47! 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 *1* 47!
• How many different (initial) blackjack hands are
there?

52! 52! 52 * 51
C (52,2)     1,326
2!(52  2)! 2!50! 2 *1

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 Example
• A little league baseball squad has six outfielders,
seven infielders, five pitchers, and two catchers.
Each outfielder can play any of the three outfield
positions, and each infielder can play any of the
four infield positions. In how many ways can a
team of nine players be chosen?

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 A last note on combinations
• An alternative (and more common) way to denote
an r-combination:

n
C (n, r )   
r
• I’ll use C(n,r) whenever possible, as it is easier to
write in PowerPoint

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BINOMIAL THEOREM

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 The Binomial Theorem (Binomial
expansion)
(a + b)1 = 1a +1b
coefficient
(a + b)2 = (a + b)(a + b)
=1a2 + 2ab + 1b2
(a + b)3 = (a + b)(a + b)(a + b)
=1a3 + 3a2b +3ab2 +1b3
 The Binomial Theorem (Binomial expansion)
(a + b)4 = (a + b)(a + b)(a + b)(a +b)
=1a4 + 4a3b +6a2b2 +4ab3+1b4
Take out the coefficients of each expansion.

1
 The Binomial Theorem (Binomial expansion)
Can you guess the expansion of (a + b)5
without timing out the factors ?

+ + + +

(a + b)5 =1a5 + 5a4b +10a3b2 +10a2b3+5ab4+1b4

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 The Binomial Theorem (Binomial expansion)
Points to be noticed :
• Coefficients are arranged in a Pascal triangle.
• Summation of the indices of each term is equal to the
power (order) of the expansion.
• The first term of the expansion is arranged in
descending order after the expansion.
• The second term of the expansion is arranged in
ascending order order after the expansion.
• Number of terms in the expansion is equal to the
power of the expansion plus one.

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