Arrangements, Permutations

and Combinations

120MP
 Arrangements
• The number of ways of arranging (or ordering) n
things in a row is
n! = n x (n-1) x (n-2) x (n-3) x … x 1

• n! is pronounced ‘n factorial’

• eg The number of arrangements of 4 objects

= 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24

• There is an x! button on your calculator

 Eg 1) Alf, Bert, Chas, Dave, and Eric are stood in a
queue
• In how many different orders can they be arranged?
• 5! = 120
• How many arrangements have Chas at the front?
• Chas is fixed in position and the other 4 can be arranged in
any order.
• 4! = 24
• How many arrangements have Bert and Dave 3 places
apart?
• Bert could be 1st and Dave 4th or vice versa. The other 3
people could be in any order. This gives 2 x 3!.
• Similarly Bert and Dave could be 2nd and 5th.
• Hence, total no. of arrangements is 2 x 2 x 3! = 24
• What is the probability of Alf being at the back?
• No. of arrangements with Alf at the back = 4! = 24
• Total poss no.of arrangements = 5! = 120
• So, P(Alf at back) = 24/120 = 1/5

• What is the probability of Chas and Dave being next to each

other?
• Chas and Dave respectively could be: 1st and 2nd, or 2nd and
3rd, or 3rd and 4th, or 4th and 5th. This gives 4 possibilities.
• They could also swap places ie 2nd and 1st, or 3rd and 2nd etc.
This gives 2 x 4 possibilities.
• The remaining 3 people can be arranged 3! Ways. So total no.
of arrangements with Chas and Dave together = 2 x 4 x 3! =
48
• Total possible number of arrangements = 120
 A second queue forms containing Fiona,
Grace, Hattie, and Imy
• Including both queues how many different possible
arrangements are there (assuming they are not allowed to
switch to a different queue)?
• No. of arrangements of men’s queue = 5!
• No. of arrangements of women’s queue = 4!
• Total no. of arrangements = 5! x 4! = 2880
• What is the probability that Eric is at the front of his queue
and Fiona is at the front of hers?
• No. of arrangements of men’s queue with Eric at the front = 4!
• No. of arrangements of women’s queue with Fiona at the front
= 3!
• So total no of arrangements with both at front = 4! x 3! = 144
• Hence P(Eric and Fiona at front) = 144/2880 =1/20
 The number of ways of arranging n things of which p
are alike, q are alike, r are alike and so on is

• Eg 2) a) How many different arrangements can be made of the

word arrange?
• There are 7 letters overall. There are 2 as 2 rs 1 n 1 g and 1 e.
• So, there are = 1260 arrangements
• b) How many arrangements start with r?
• The remaining 6 letters can be arranged in = 360 ways.
• c) What is the probability that an arrangement starts and ends
with a?
• The remaining 5 letters can be arranged in = 60 ways.
• Hence P(starts and ends with a) = 60 / 1260 = 1/21
 The number of ways of arranging n things in
a circle is (n-1)!
• Eg 3) An aardvark, a boar, a cat, a dingo, and an emu are in a
circle.

• How many different arrangements of them are there?

• (5-1)! = 4! = 24

• What is the probability that the aadvark is next to the boar?

• The aadvark could be to the left of the boar. The other 3 animals
can be arranged in 3! Ways.
• Or the aardvark could be to the right of the boar. So the total no.
of arrangements here is 2 x 3! = 12
• Hence P(aardvark next to boar) = 12 / 24 = ½
 Permutations
• A permutation is an arrangement of a selection.

• The number of permutations of r things from n is

• This gives you the number of ways of choosing r

things from n and putting them in order.

• There is an nPr button on your calculator

 Eg 4)
• 8 people enter a raffle which has a 1st prize, 2nd prize, and 3nd
prize:

• How many permutations of the particpants are there for the

3 prizes?
• 8P3 = 8! / 5! = 336

• What is the probability that somebody correctly predicts the

winner of the 1st prize and the 2nd prize?
• No of permutations of 2 from 8 = 8P2 = 56
• So P(predict 1st 2 prize winners) = 1 / 56
 Combinations
• A combination is a selection.

• The number of combinations of r things from n is

• This gives you the number of ways of choosing r

things from n without any order

• There is an nCr button on your calculator

 Eg 5) A football squad has 19 players.
• How many different possible selections of a team of 11 are
there (ignoring positions)?
• 19C11 = 75582

• In the squad there is 1 goalkeeper, 7 defenders, 6

midfielders, and 5 forwards.
• How many ways could a team comprising 1 goalkeeper, 5
defenders, 3 midfielders and 2 forwards be chosen?
• We are choosing 5 defenders from 7. This can be done 7C5
ways. Similarly 3 midfielders from 6 gives 6C3 and 2
forwards from 5 gives 5C2 ways.
• So overall, no. of combinations is 7C5 x 6C3 x 5C2 = 4200
• 5 of the squad are randomly called for a drug test. What is the
probability that exactly 2 of them are defenders?

• No. of possible ways of choosing 5 = 19C5 = 11628.

• 2 of the 5 are defenders and 3 aren’t defenders. No. of ways of
choosing 2 defenders from the 7 in the squad = 7C2 = 21. No of
ways of choosing 3 players from the 12 who aren’t defenders =
12C3 = 220.
• So no. of ways of choosing 2 defenders and 3 non defenders = 21
x 220 = 4620
• Hence P(2 of the 5 chosen are defenders) = 4620 / 11628 = 385 /
969