Permutation

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For other uses, see Permutation (disambiguation).

The 6 permutations of 3 balls

In mathematics, the notion of permutation is used with several slightly different meanings, all related to the act of permuting (rearranging) objects or values. Informally, a permutation of a set of objects is an arrangement of those objects into a particular order. For example, there are six permutations of the set {1,2,3}, namely (1,2,3), (1,3,2), (2,1,3), (2,3,1), (3,1,2), and (3,2,1). One might define an anagram of a word as a permutation of its letters. The study of permutations in this sense generally belongs to the field of combinatorics. The number of permutations of n distinct objects is n(n 1)(n 2)21, which number is called "n factorial" and written "n!". Permutations occur, in more or less prominent ways, in almost every domain of mathematics. They often arise when different orderings on certain finite sets are considered, possibly only because one wants to ignore such orderings and needs to know how many configurations are thus identified. For similar reasons permutations arise in the study of sorting algorithms in computer science. In algebra and particularly in group theory, a permutation of a set S is defined as a bijection from S to itself (i.e., a map S S for which every element of S occurs exactly once as image value). This is related to the rearrangement of S in which each element s takes the place of the corresponding f(s). The collection of such permutations form a symmetric group. The key to its structure is the possibility tocompose permutations: performing two given rearrangements in succession defines a third rearrangement, the composition.

Permutations may act on composite objects by rearranging their components, or by certain replacements (substitutions) of symbols. In elementary combinatorics, the name "permutations and combinations" often refers to two related problems, both counting possibilities to select k distinct elements from a set of n elements, where for k-permutations the order of selection is taken into account, but for k-combinations it is ignored. However k-permutations (also known as partial permutations) do not correspond to permutations as discussed in this article (unless k = n).

Examples of Permutation

Suppose Amy, Brian, and Charles are to sit side by side. Then there are 6 different orders in which they can arrange themselves.

ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA each of these permutation is different from the others. More about Permutation

The permutation of n objects taken r at a time is represented as nPr.

The permutation or arrangement of 9 different balls in 3 different rows can be done in9P3 = 504 ways. The permutation of n objects taken all at a time is represented as nPn = n!. Factorial: Factorial means a series of multiplications from 1 up to some number. An exclamatory symbol (!) indicates a factorial. For example, 3! means 3 2 1.

7! = 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Solved Example on Permutation Find the number of 7-letter permutation from the letters of the word FORMULA. Choices: A. 5,040 B. 7 C. 1 D. 49 Correct Answer: A Solution: Step 1: The number of letters in the word FORMULA is 7. word.] [Write the number of letters of the

Step 2: The number of 7-letter permutations from the 7 distinct letters of the word is 7P7 = 7! = 5,040. [nPn = n!.] Step 3: The number of 7 letter permutations from the 7 distinct letters of the word FORMULA is 5,040.

Combination
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Combin" redirects here. For the mountain massif, see Grand Combin. For other uses, see Combination (disambiguation). In mathematics a combination is a way of selecting several things out of a larger group, where (unlike permutations) order does not matter. In smaller cases it is possible to count the number of combinations. For example given three fruit, say an apple, orange and pear, there are three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set: an apple and a pear; an apple and an orange; or a pear and an orange. More formally a k-combination of a set S is a subset of k distinct elements of S. If the set has n elements the number of k-combinations is equal to the binomial coefficient

which can be written using factorials as

whenever

, and which is zero

when

. The set of all k-combinations of a set S is sometimes denoted by

Combinations can refer to the combination of n things taken k at a time without or with repetitions.[1] In the above example repetitions were not allowed. If however it was possible to have two of any one kind of fruit there would be 3 more combinations: one with two apples, one with two oranges, and one with two pears. With large sets, it becomes necessary to use more sophisticated mathematics to find the number of combinations. For example, apoker hand can be described as a 5-combination (k = 5) of cards from a 52 card deck (n = 52). The 5 cards of the hand are all distinct, and the order of cards in the hand does not matter. There are 2,598,960 such combinations, and the chance of drawing any one hand at random is 1 / 2,598,960.

Find the number of ways to take 4 people and place them in groups of 3 at a time where order does not matter.

Solution: Since order does not matter, use the combination formula.

There are 4 ways to arrange 4 items taken 3 at a time when order does not matter. Find the number of ways to take 20 objects and arrange them in groups of 5 at a time where order does not matter. Solution:

There are 15,504 ways to arrange 20 objects taken 5 at a time when order does not matter. Is the State Lotteries a combination or a permutation? Solution: The answer has to do with if order matters. If order matters, then it is a permutation. If order does not matter then it is a combination. Do you think the numbers on a ticket have to be in the same order as the order in which they became the winning numbers? In other words, lets say the winning numbers rolled out of the machine in the order of: 1,2,3,4,5,6. Do the numbers on your ticket have to be in this same order to win? Or will any order such as 2,3,1,5,6,4 also be a winning ticket?

The answer is, any order of the winning numbers will produce the winning ticket. Thus the lotteries are combinations.
Question: For the selection a team of two persons out of five. Find the number of ways, a team of two members, can be selected from five volunteers. Solution: Number of ways of selecting 2 persons from the 5 = C(5, 2) = =

5!3!2! 5421

= 10 Hence there are 10 ways to select 2 members from the five volunteers.

Probability
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Probability

Outline

Catalog of articles Probabilists

Glossary Notation

Journals

Category

Certainty series
Agnosticism Belief Certainty Doubt Determinism Epistemology Estimation Fallibilism Fatalism Justification Nihilism Probability Skepticism Solipsism Truth Uncertainty

Probability (or likelihood[1]) is a measure of how likely it is that something will happen or that a statement is true. Probabilities are given a value between 0 (will not happen) and 1 (will happen).[2] The higher the probability of an event, the more certain we are that the event will happen. These concepts have been given an axiomatic mathematical derivation in probability theory, which is used widely in such areas of study as mathematics, statistics, finance, gambling, science, artificial

intelligence/machine learning and philosophy to, for example, draw inferences about the expected frequency of events. Probability theory is also used to describe the underlying mechanics and regularities of complex systems.

The probability of event A is the number of ways event A can occur divided by the total number of possible outcomes. Let's take a look at a slight modification of the problem from the top of the page. Experiment 1: A spinner has 4 equal sectors colored yellow, blue, green and red. After spinning the spinner, what is the probability of landing on each color? The possible outcomes of this experiment are yellow, blue, green, and red. P(yellow) = # of ways to land on yellow 1 = total # of colors 4 # of ways to land on blue 1 = total # of colors 4 # of ways to land on green 1 = total # of colors 4 # of ways to land on red 1 = total # of colors 4

Outcomes: Probabilities:

P(blue)

P(green) =

P(red)

Experiment 2:

A single 6-sided die is rolled. What is the probability of each outcome? What is the probability of rolling an even number? of rolling an odd number? The possible outcomes of this experiment are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. P(1) = # of ways to roll a 1 total # of sides # of ways to roll a 2 total # of sides # of ways to roll a 3 total # of sides # of ways to roll a 4 total # of sides # of ways to roll a 5 = 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 6

Outcomes: Probabilities:

P(2)

P(3)

P(4) P(5)

= =

=1

total # of sides P(6) = # of ways to roll a 6 total # of sides =

6 1 6

P(even) = P(odd) =

# ways to roll an even number 3 1 = = total # of sides 6 2 # ways to roll an odd number 3 1 = = total # of sides 6 2

Experiment 2 illustrates the difference between an outcome and an event. A single outcome of this experiment is rolling a 1, or rolling a 2, or rolling a 3, etc. Rolling an even number (2, 4 or 6) is an event, and rolling an odd number (1, 3 or 5) is also an event. In Experiment 1 the probability of each outcome is always the same. The probability of landing on each color of the spinner is always one fourth. In Experiment 2, the probability of rolling each number on the die is always one sixth. In both of these experiments, the outcomes are equally likely to occur. Let's look at an experiment in which the outcomes are not equally likely. Experiment 3: A glass jar contains 6 red, 5 green, 8 blue and 3 yellow marbles. If a single marble is chosen at random from the jar, what is the probability of choosing a red marble? a green marble? a blue marble? a yellow marble? The possible outcomes of this experiment are red, green, blue and yellow. P(red) = # of ways to choose red 6 3 = = total # of marbles 22 11 # of ways to choose green 5 = total # of marbles 22 # of ways to choose blue 8 4 = = total # of marbles 22 11 # of ways to choose yellow 3 = total # of marbles 22

Outcomes: Probabilities:

P(green) =

P(blue)

P(yellow) =

The outcomes in this experiment are not equally likely to occur. You are more likely to choose a blue marble than any other color. You are least likely to choose a yellow marble.

Experiment 4:

Choose a number at random from 1 to 5. What is the probability of each outcome? What is the probability that the number chosen is even? What is the probability that the number chosen is odd? The possible outcomes of this experiment are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Outcomes:

Probabilities:

P(1)

# of ways to choose a 1 total # of numbers # of ways to choose a 2 total # of numbers # of ways to choose a 3 total # of numbers # of ways to choose a 4 total # of numbers # of ways to choose a 5 total # of numbers

1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5

P(2)

P(3) P(4)

= =

= =

P(5)

P(even) =

# of ways to choose an even number 2 = total # of numbers 5 # of ways to choose an odd number 3 = total # of numbers 5

P(odd) =

The outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are equally likely to occur as a result of this experiment. However, the events even and odd are not equally likely to occur, since there are 3 odd numbers and only 2 even numbers from 1 to 5.

Summary:

The probability of an event is the measure of the chance that the event will occur as a result of an experiment. The probability of an event A is the number of ways event A can occur divided by the total number of possible outcomes. The probability of an event A, symbolized by P(A), is a number between 0 and 1, inclusive, that measures the likelihood of an event in the following way:

If P(A) > P(B) then event A is more likely to occur than event B. If P(A) = P(B) then events A and B are equally likely to occur.

Example: the chances of rolling a "4" with a die Number of ways it can happen: 1 (there is only 1 face with a "4" on it) Total number of outcomes: 6 (there are 6 faces altogether) 1 So the probability = 6 Example: there are 5 marbles in a bag: 4 are blue, and 1 is red. What is the probability that a blue marble will be picked? Number of ways it can happen: 4 (there are 4 blues) Total number of outcomes: 5 (there are 5 marbles in total) 4 So the probability = 5 = 0.8