Permutations and Combinations Problems

Permutations and combinations are used to solve problems.

Factorial
Example 1: How many 3 digit numbers can you make using the digits 1, 2 and 3
without repetitions?

Method (1) listing all possible numbers using a tree diagram.

We can make 6 numbers using 3 digits and without repetitions of the digits.

Method (2) counting:

LOOK AT THE TREE DIAGRAM ABOVE.

We have 3 choices for the first digit, 2 choices for the second digit and 1 choice
for the third digit.

Using the counting principle, we can say:

The total number of 3-digit numbers is given by

3*2*1=6

There is a special notation for the product 3 * 2 * 1 = 3! and it is read 3 factorial.

In general n! is read n factorial and is given by

n! = n*(n - 1)*(n - 2)*...*2*1

We also define 0! = 1.

Example 2: How many different words can we make using the letters A, B, E and
L?

Solution: We have 4 choices for the first letter, 3 choices for the second letter, 2
choices for the third letter and 1 choice for the fourth letter. Hence the number of
words is given by
4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 4! = 24

Permutations
Example 3: How many 2 digit numbers can you make using the digits 1, 2, 3 and
4 without repeating the digits?

This time we want to use 2 digits at the time to make 2 digit numbers.

For the first digit we have 4 choices and for the second digit we have 3 choices
(4 - 1 used already). Using the counting principle, the number of 2 digit numbers
that we can make using 4 digits is given by 4 * 3 = 12

The above problem is that of arranging 2 digits out of 4 in a specific order. This
is also called permutating.

The most important idea in permuations is that order is important. When you use
the digits 3 and 4 to make a number, the number 34 and 43 are different hence
the order of the digits 3 and 4 is important.

In general permutating r (2 digit in the above example) items out of a set of n (4

digits in the above example) items is written as n P r and the formual is given by

n P r = n! / (n - r)!
Example 4: Calculate

4 P2

6 P5

4 P4

Solution:

4 P 2 = 4! / (4 - 2)! = 24/2 = 12

6 P 5 = 6! / (6 - 5)! = 6*5*4*3*2*1 / 1! = 720

4P 4 = 4! / (4 - 4)! = 4! / 0! = 4! = 4*3*2*1 = 24 (We now understand the need to

define 0! = 1)

Example 5: How many 3 letter words can we make with the letters in the word
LOVE?

Solution: There are 4 letters in the word love and making making 3 letter words
is similar to arranging these 3 letters and order is important since LOV and VOL
are different words because of the order of the same letters L, O and V. Hence it
is a permutation problem. The number of words is given by

4 P 3 = 4! / (4 - 3)! = 24

Combinations
Example 6: How many lines can you draw using 3 non collinear (not in a single
line) points A, B and C on a plane?

Solution: You need two points to draw a line. The order is not important. Line
AB is the same as line BA. The problem is to select 2 points out of 3 to draw
different lines. If we proceed as we did with permutations, we get the following
pairs of points to draw lines.

AB , AC

BA , BC

CA , CB

There is a problem: line AB is the same as line BA, same for lines AC and CA
and BC and CB.

The lines are: AB, BC and AC ; 3 lines only.

So in fact we can draw 3 lines and not 6 and that's because in this problem the
order of the points A, B and C is not important.

This is a combination problem: combining 2 items out of 3 and is written as

follows:

n C r = n! / [ (n - r)! r! ]
The number of combinations is equal to the number of permuations divided by r!
to eliminates those counted more than once because the order is not important.

Example 7: Calculate

3 C2

5 C5

Solution:

3 C 2 = 3! / [ (3 - 2)!2! ] = 6 / [1 * 2] = 3 (problem of points and lines solved above

in example 6)

5C 5 = 5! / [(5 - 5)!5! ] = 5! / [0!5!] = 5! / [1 * 5!] = 1 (there is only one way to

select (without order) 5 items from 5 items and to select all of them once!)

Example 8:We need to form a 5 a side team in a class of 12 students. How many
different teams can be formed?

Solution:

There is nothing that indicates that the order in which the team members are
selected is imoportant and therefore it is a combination problem. Hence the
number of teams is given by

12 C 5 = 12! / [ (12 - 5)!5! ] = 792

Problems with solutions

1. How many 4 digit numbers can we make using the digits 3, 6, 7 and 8
without repetitions?

2. How many 3 digit numbers can we make using the digits 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
without repetitions?

3. How many 6 letter words can we make using the letters in the word
LIBERTY without repetitions?

4. In how many ways can you arrange 5 different books on a shelf?

5. In how many ways can you select a committee of 3 students out of 10

students?

6. How many triangles can you make using 6 non collinear points on a
plane?

7. A committe including 3 boys and 4 girls is to be formed from a group of 10

boys and 12 girls. How many different committee can be formed from the
group?

8. In a certain country, the car number plate is formed by 4 digits from the
digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 followed by 3 letters from the alphabet.
How many number plates can be formed if neither the digits nor the letters
are repeated?

Solutions

1. 4! = 24

2. 5 P 3 = 60

3. 7 P 6 = 5040

4. 5! = 120

5. 10 C 3 = 120

6. 6 C 3 = 20

7. 10 C 3 * 12 c 4 = 59,400

8. 9 P 4 * 26 P 3 = 47,174,400