




Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Community
Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts
Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users
Free resources
Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors
WORKSHEET : Permutations ... How many different combinations of friends could you choose to join you at the game? ... ANSWERS : Permutations.
Typology: Schemes and Mind Maps
1 / 8
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
Name: Date: WORKSHEET : Permutations
Combinations
= 26 × 26 × 10 × 10 × 10 = 26 2 × 10 3
Combinations
This lesson expands on the idea of permutations or ordered arrangements and introduces combinations where the objects are not ordered. It also builds upon the previous lesson to include choosing a subset of r objects from n objects available.
There are 5 students available for the 1st choice, 4 left for the 2nd choice, 3 left for the 3rd choice etc. until all students are chosen. In general, when discussing permutations (and combinations), students should consider the cases where less than all students are chosen, but instead some subset r is chosen. e.g.
There are only 2 choices not 5 choices to make in this case so only two events are multiplied, but the approach is the same. In general, the formula for selecting or lining up r objects where order of the selected items matter from n available choices is... P(n,r) = n!/(n - r)! In the case above, the number of ways to choose 2 students out of 5 is 5!/(5 - 2)! = 5!/3! = 5 × 4. The results are the same. If all n students are chosen (r = n) this formula also reduces to n!/0! = n! the same result from the previous lesson. Students should gain comfort with the logical approach as well as the formula itself. The logical approach of identifying how many ways the 1st choice can be made then multiplying by the number of options for the 2nd choice and so on can be more flexible in application when certain features of the question are varied.
Again, there are only 2 choices not 5 choices to make so only two events are multiplied when choosing r = 2 objects out of n = 5 objects. The key difference is that the order of the chosen objects does not matter. Instead of 2! ways to arrange AB and BA assuming the choices were A or B, there is only one way to arrange the selected items because AB is the same as BA for the purposes of the problem. As a result, to avoid overcounting r!
arrangements when only 1 exists, the student must divide by r! in combinations. That is the only difference between the permutation and combination formula. In general, the formula for selecting r objects where order of the selected items does not matter from n available choices is... C(n,r) = n!/(n - r)!r! In the case above, the number of ways to choose 2 students out of 5 is 5!/(5 - 2)!2! = 5!/3!2! = ( 5 × 4 )/2 = 10. Note if all n students are chosen (r = n) this formula reduces to n!/0!n! = 1 as expected. There is only one way to arrange objects that are all the same. How do I know if order matters or not? The key question every student should ask themselves in each permutation/combination problem is whether order of the selected items matters? Unfortunately, this requires some reasoning to determine based on the conditions of the problem, but experience will help substantially and a few examples are shown below to highlight the differences. Examples of permutation where order of selected items matters: