Permutations and Combinations

Crash course!

ARRANGING LETTERS
[RJC07/P2/5i] Find the number of different ways in which ‘CONNOISSEUR’ can be arranged, if there are no restrictions.
Straightforward stuff first. The word has 11 letters in total, 2 Os, 2Ns and 2 Ss.
The total number of arrangements is thus given by

= 4989600

[RJC07/P2/5ii] if a vowel must be separated from another with exactly one consonant.
Take note of cunning questions like this. The word has 6 consonants (C) and 5 vowels (V). At first sight it’s easy
to overlook the fact that the word can start or end with a consonant as the question makes no restriction that
a consonant has to be separated by a vowel. Thus the only correct arrangements would be:
_V_V_V_V_V_ _ _V_V_V_V_V V_V_V_V_V_ _
The total number of combinations is given by

3 = 10800

[CJC05/2/3a] Find the number of arrangements of the letters in the world ‘PERSEVERE’ if no 2 ‘E’s are together
Consider the representation below with the blanks representing where Es can be slotted
_P_R_S_V_R_
Hence, the total number of combinations is given by
6
C4 × = 900
4 Es to slot into 5 remaining letters
6 positions to arrange (2 Rs)

[CJC05/2/3b] if each arrangement must start and end with ‘S’ or ‘P’ and no 2 ‘E’s are together
[P/S]_R_V_R_[S/P]
2! × = 900
Number of 3 remaining letters
positions of P/S to arrange (2 Rs)
Since there are only 4 slots to put 4 Es, there’s no need to account for the Es
[SAJC05/1/2ii] Find the number of different words that can be formed by using all the letters in the word
REPTITION, if the first and the last letters are both consonants

× 2! × = 100800
Choose 2 consonants from a Switch them And arrange the
total of 5 (with 2 Ts) around rest (2 Es and 2 Is)

[RJC05/2/1] A school library has 3 books by Dickens, 4 books by Shakespeare and 2 books by Montogomery.
Find the number of ways of arranging the books on the shelf if the books written by the same author (i) are
indistinguishable; (ii) are distinguishable and must be together; (iii) are distinguishable and all the 3 books by
Dickens must be separate.
This is a letter-arranging question disguised as something else.
(i) “Find the number of (ii) You have three bunches of books, within (iii) _S_S_S_S_M_M_
arrangements of the each bunch you can shift the books around. 7
C3 3! 6!
letters in DDDSSSSMM” You have 3Ds to slot into 7 positions. Multiply
by the factorials because the books are
3! × 3!4!2! = 1728
= 1260 discrete. 3! to arrange the Dickens, 6! to
3! to shift the bunches around, and the rest of the
arrange the rest.
factorials to move the books around within each bunch.
 Permutations and Combinations
Crash course!

ARRANGING PEOPLE
[ACJC05/1/10i] Doris, a matchmaker is to organize a dinner for 4 men and 4 women. How many ways can she
select these 8 people from a list of 10 men and 10 women?
Simple stuff – choose 4 people from each of two groups of ten. The number of ways is given by
10 10
C4 C4 = 44100
[ACJC05/1/10iii] (To tell you the gist of the question, one man leaves, and Doris has to split what’s left into 3
groups, each consisting of at least one man and woman)
So you’re left with three men and four women, which leaves you with no choice but to form two groups of a
man and a woman, and one group with one man and two women. The number of ways is given by
4
C2 × 3! = 36
Choosing the group Moving the 3
with 2 women men around
There is no need to multiply the answer by 2! as the pairing of the one-woman groups is already accounted for
when you move the three men about, and multiplying by 2! would be double counting. Try listing out the
possible combinations if it’s not immediately apparent.
[JJC05/2/1a] A committee of 5 is to be selected from 6 men and 4 ladies, find the number of committees that
contain at least two ladies.
The trick, of course, is to know when to use the complement
10
C5 - 4C16C4 - 6
C5 = 186
All possible 1 woman 0 women
combinations 4 men 5 men

[NYJC05/1/3] A world-class basketball team has ten players and each player is versatile enough to play in any
position. If the captain and exactly one of the two youngest players have to be in the starting line-up, find the
number of ways of fielding the starting line-up if each line-up must consist of five players.
Ignore the captain - he has to be in anyway. You are now left with nine people to fill four positions. Of that,
only one out of the two youngest can play. That leaves you with seven people to fill three more positions.
2
C1 × 7
C3 = 70
1 of the 2 3 from the
youngest players remaining 7

[TJC05/1/2] (Gist of the question: you have 3 men and 1 lady, and four hotels room available for them to put
up in) Find the number of ways in which they can check-in if (i) all of them occupy different rooms, (ii) all 3
men occupy one room and the lady occupies another
For (i), it’s rather obvious the answer is 4! For (ii), the number of ways is given as follows
4
C2 × 2! = 12
Choosing 2 Switching the 2
rooms from 4 groups around

[TJC05/1/2iii] …if two men occupy one room, and the other man and lady each occupy different rooms.
4
C3 × 3! × 3
C2 = 12
As above (but Choosing the 2 men
with 3 rooms) occupying 1 room
 Permutations and Combinations
Crash course!

ABOUT CIRCULAR TABLES

[JJC05/2/1b] If a particular committee is made up of 3 men and 2 ladies, May and June, find the number of
ways the committee can be seated in a round table when May and June are not together
Another complement question. Also remember the formula for circular permutation – (n-1)!
4! - (3! × 2!) = 12
All possible When M and J are together
combinations 2! switches their positions

[MI05/2/3ii] 5 males and 4 females are to be seated around the (a?) table. Find the number of ways this can be
done if all the girls are seated together.
All the girls are seating in a group, so effectively, you have six bunches of people to arrange around the table –
5 discrete guys and a bunch of 4 girls.
5! × 4! = 2880
Shifting the
(6-1)!
girls around

[MI05/2/3iii] …if one particular girl must sit between two particular boys
Now you have seven bunches of people – 3 discrete girls, 3 discrete guys, and a bunch consisting of two guys
and a girl.
6! × 2! = 1440
Shifting the 2
(7-1)!
guys around

OTHER RANDOM QUESTIONS

[RJC05/2/1ii] The digits of the number 3215463 are rearranged. If the first and last digit must be different, find
how many such numbers are odd.
Here is a good time to consider cases.
Case 1: Ends in 3 – use the complement Case 2: Ends in 1 or 5
6! - 5! = 600
Starts and 2 = 720
All
ends in 3*
5! represents the rearrangement of the remaining 5 letters 2 represents two cases (ends in 1/ends in 5). The second term
represents the rearrangement of the remaining terms (2 threes)
Total number of combinations = 1320
[SRJC05/1/5(i)] (Gist: 17 students sit in a circle. Each student has to shake hands with the rest of the class,
excluding the two sitting beside him/her in the circle) How many handshakes would have taken place when the
game is over?
This is a rather strange question, not technically a P&C question, but anyway. For questions about handshakes,

the total number of handshakes exchanged in a group of n people is given by . So, in a group of 17 people,

the total number of handshakes would be given by 1 + 2 + 3 + … + 15 + 16 = 139.

However, in this case, each person does not shake hands with the two people beside him. For the purposes of
this question, imagine a 17-sided polygon with each vertex connected to every other vertex. The number of
edges (lines) in this figure is given by 139 – the total number of handshakes without restrictions. Now remove
the outer edge of the polygon – 17 lines, which essentially represent the handshakes exchanged between
members of the circle sitting beside each other. Thus, the number of handshakes here is given by
139 – 17 = 119
[SRJC05/1/5(ii)] (Gist: 12 boys and 5 girls have to stand in a row to take a class photo. The boys have to be
arranged from shortest to tallest, but do not need to stand together. The girls can stand anywhere they like.)
In how many ways can the class be arranged in the row.
This was a rather strange question as well. How I did this was I imagined I was arranging 17 letters – 12 of
which were the same – representing the boys. Then this number was multiplied by two because the
arrangement by height can take place both from right to left or left to right.
The total number of ways was thus given by

2 = 1485120