Permutations and combinations (Algebra 2, Discrete mathematics and p... https://www.mathplanet.com/education/algebra-2/discrete-mathematics...

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Permutations and combinations

Before we discuss permutations we are going to have a look at what the words
combination means and permutation. A Waldorf salad is a mix of among other things
celeriac, walnuts and lettuce. It doesn't matter in what order we add our ingredients but
if we have a combination to our padlock that is 4-5-6 then the order is extremely
important.

If the order doesn't matter then we have a combination, if the order does matter then
we have a permutation. One could say that a permutation is an ordered combination.

The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is determined by the

following formula:

$$P(n,r)=\frac{n!}{(n-r)!}$$

Example

A code have 4 digits in a specific order, the digits are between 0-9. How many different
permutations are there if one digit may only be used once?

A four digit code could be anything between 0000 to 9999, hence there are 10,000
combinations if every digit could be used more than one time but since we are told in
the question that one digit only may be used once it limits our number of
combinations. In order to determine the correct number of permutations we simply
plug in our values into our formula:

$$P(n,r)=\frac{10!}{(10-4)!}=\frac{10\cdot9\cdot8\cdot 7\cdot 6\cdot 5\cdot

4\cdot 3\cdot 2\cdot 1 }{6\cdot5\cdot 4\cdot 3\cdot 2\cdot 1}=5040$$

In our example the order of the digits were important, if the order didn't matter we
would have what is the definition of a combination. The number of combinations of n
objects taken r at a time is determined by the following formula:

$$C(n,r)=\frac{n!}{(n-r)!r!}$$

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Permutations and combinations (Algebra 2, Discrete mathematics and p... https://www.mathplanet.com/education/algebra-2/discrete-mathematics...

Video lesson
Four friends are going to sit around a table with 6 chairs. In how many ways could the
friends sit?

2 of 2 4/3/2024, 2:56 AM