Applications of Permutations and

Combinations

Certain combinatorics problems are

harder to solve and require some
ingenuity. One gets to be good at
solving such problems by applying clear
logic and practice.
 Example 1:

Find the number of ways of arranging 6 women and

3 men to stand in a row, so that all 3 men are
standing together.

This problem is simplified by treating the men as

a single unit. One approach might be:

where represents women and represents men.

The number of permutations of these ‘objects’ is

However, the men can be arranged in ways, and
so the total number of ways to arrange the 6
women and 3 men so that all 3 men are standing
together is:
 Example2:
Find the number of ways of arranging 6 women and
3 men in a row so that no two men are standing
next to one another.

This problem can be solved by arranging the women

with a space in between them and also a space
before the first woman, and a space after the
last woman:

There are possible arrangements of the 6 women.

The remaining men can be arranged in different
ways, giving a total of
different ways of arranging them according to
the required conditions.
 Example 3:

A group of people consisting of 6 married couples is

arranged at random in a line for a photograph. Find the
probability that each wife is standing next to her
husband.

If there are no restrictions, the number of arrangements

is However, we can treat the husband and wife as a unit,
in which case the total number of arrangements is But
each couple can be arranged in ways. So that gives us
(*) ways of arranging the couples. Thus the probability is
given by:

(*) To understand , think of tree diagram.

 Example 4:

Four letters are to be selected from the letters in the word

RIGIDITY. How many different combinations are there?

We have to consider the cases where there are combinations with

no s, one , two s and three s.

Zero s :

One :

Two s :

Three s :

The total number of combinations is therefore the sum of all the

above: .

What do you notice about these combinations?

 

The problem can be solved easily by noticing that the

points in the spider’s web correspond to binomial
coefficients.

Every path consists of exactly moves. The problem is

solved once we can determine how many such moves
are possible.

To arrive at , the spider must move across and up in

any one of the possible ways to reach the fly.

Next slide shows solution.

Therefore, the total number of ways the spider can
reach the fly is 35.
 Now do Exercise 5C .

Also do miscellaneous exercise 5.

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