QS 025

CHAPTER 7

PERMUTATIONS
and
COMBINATIONS

1
 Permutations

(a) Permutations of a Set of Objects

A permutation is an ordered arrangement

of all or part of a set of objects.

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 Factorial

Factorial rule is used to find the number of

arrangements for all objects. For n different
items, there are n! arrangements

For n ≥ 1
= n × ( n – 1 ) × ( n – 2 ) ×…× 3 × 2 × 1.

For n = 0, 0! = 1 ( use calculator)

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Example 1

a) 5 ! = 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 =.

5! 5  4  3  2 1
b)  
3! 3  2 1

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Example 2

Consider the three letters A, L, I

ALI AIL L AI L IA

I L A I AL

The number of permutations is 6.

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 PERMUTATIONS OF n DIFFERENT
OBJECTS

The number of permutations of n

different objects taken n at a time is

n
Pn  n!

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Example 3
How many three-digit numbers can be
made from the integers 2, 3, 4 ?

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Example 4
Three people, Aishah, Badrul and Daniel must be
scheduled for job interviews. In how many
different orders can this be done?

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Example 5
How many different numbers can be
Formed from the digits 5, 6, 7 and 8
(no repetitions are allowed)

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 Permutation of r objects taken
from n different object
A permutation of r objects taken from n
different objects without repetition is an
arrangement of the objects in a specific
order
For example, there 12 permutations for
the letters A, B, C and D taken 2 at a time.
These are : AB BA CA DA
AC BC CB DB
AD BD CD DC
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Using the multiplication principle

The number of permutations of 4 objects

taken two at a time
= 4 x 3 = 12.

11
The number of permutations of r objects
chosen from a set of n different objects
is denoted by

n n!
Pr =
(n - r)!

12
Example 1
Suppose you have 4 different flags. How
many different signals could you make
using
(i) 2 flags (ii) 2 or 3 flags
Example 2
How many arrangements of the letters
of the word B R I G H T are there if
(i) 3 letters are used
(ii) all of the letters are used

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Example 3
A relay team has 5 members. How many
ways can a coach arrange 4 of them to run
a 4x100 m race.

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Permutation with conditions

Example 1
How many three-digit numbers can be
made from the integers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 if
(i) each integer is used only once?
(ii) there is no restriction on the number
of times each integer can be used?

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Example 2

Find the number of arrangements of 4

digits taken from the set { 1, 2, 3, 4}. In
how many ways can these numbers be
arranged so that
(a) The numbers begin with digit ‘1’
(b) The numbers do not begin with digit ‘1’

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Example 3

Four sisters and two brothers are

arranged in different ways in a straight
line for several photographs to be
taken.How many different arrangements
are possible if
(a) there are no restrictions
(b) the two brothers must be separated

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(a) there are no restrictions

SS SS B B

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Example 4
There are 10 students out of whom six are
females. How many possible arrangements
are there if
a) they are arranged in a row?
b) males always sit on one side and female
on the other side?

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a) they are arranged in a row?
Solution:
6F 4M

 10 !
b)males always sit on one side and female on
the other side?

F F F F F F M M M M

6!  4 !  2!

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Example 5
In how many ways can 4 girls and 5 boys
sit in a row if the boys and girls must
sit alternate to each other?

G G G G

4! 
5
P5

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Example 6
Three married couples have bought 6
seats in the same row for a concert. In
how many different ways can they be
seated
a) with no restrictions
b) If each couple is to sit together
c) If all the men sit together to the right
of all the women

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Solution
a) No restriction
3 married couple: 3 couple x 2 person = 6 person

 6 ! ways
c) If all the men sit together to the
right of all the women

W W W M M M

 3!  3!
Example 7

A witness to a hit-and-run accident told the

police that the plat number contained the
letters PGT followed by 4 digits, the first
of which is 5. If the witness cannot recall
the last 3 digits, but is certain that all 3
digits are different, find the minimum
number of automobile registrations that
the police may have to check.

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 P G T 5

Digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

 P3
10

 10  9  8  720 ways

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Example 9
Four digit numbers are to be formed
from the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 without
repetition. How many numbers can be
formed if each number

a) is less than 5000

b) begins with digit 4 or 6
c) is between 2000 and 6000
d) is an odd number

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 Without repetition
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

a) is less than 5000

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Example 10

How many four-digit even numbers can be

formed from the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
to make up between 2000 and 6000

a) without repetition
b) with repetition

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even numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
between 2000 and 6000 without repetition

2,3,4,5 0, 2, 4, 6

2 0,4,6

6 3
1 x P2 x P1 = 90

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3 0,2,4,6

6 4
1 x P2 x P1 = 120

4 0,2,6 +
6 3 = 90
1 x P2 x P1
5 0,2,4,6 +
6 4
1 x P2 x P1 = 120
33 = 420 ways
with repetition

2,3,4,5 0, 2, 4, 6

P1 x P1  P1 x P1 = 1024
4 8 8 4

1024 – 1 = 1023 ways

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Permutations where some objects are
repeated (SIMILAR)

Consider the number of permutations of

the letter

D O C T O R

There are two O’s.

The number of permutations of

D O1 C T O2 R is 6!
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But O1,O2 can be arranged in 2! Ways.

Therefore the number of permutations of

D O C T O R is

6!
2!

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Generalising this argument we see that,

The number of permutations of n objects

comprising of
r1 identical objects, r2 identical
objects, ..……….,
rk identical objects is

n!
r1! r2! ..........rk!

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Example 11

How many different permutations can be

made using the letters of the words

(i) H A P P Y
(ii) E X A M I N A T I O N

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 N ( letter) = 5
n(P) = 2
i. H A P P Y
5!
Number of permutation =  60 ways
2!

(ii) E X A M I N A T I O N
N ( letter) = 11
n(A) = 2, n(I)= 2, n(N) = 2

11!
Number of permutation =  4 , 989 , 600 ways
2! 2! 2!
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Example 12

There are 2 copies of each of 3

different books to be arranged on a
shelf. In how many distinguishable
ways can this be done?

Answer: 90

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Example 14
In how many ways can 3 red, 4 blue and 2
green pens be distributed among nine
students seated in a row if each student
receives one pen?

Answer: 1260 ways

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Example 15(a)

Find the number of ways in which the

letters of the word “SORRY” can be
arranged if the two R’s must be

a)Together
b)separated

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 SORRY
N ( letter) = 5
a)Together

RR

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 Question

In how many of he possible permutations of

the letters in the word ADDING are the

two D’s
a) Together
b) separated
 n D   2
ADDING nletter   6

A, I, N, G
D D

 5!
 120 ways.
separated

A I N G

 240 ways
Example 16(a)

How many different arrangements are there for

the letters of the word SUCCESS if

a) It begin with C and end with S

b) Two letters “C” are separated
c) Two letters “C” occupied both end.
d) Three letter “S” and two letter “C” are
together.

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 SUCCESS n (letter) = 7
n (C) = 2
a) It begin with C and end with S n (S) = 3

C , S, S, E, U
C S

 60 ways.

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 b) Two letters “C” are separated

S U E S S
The number of arrangement There have 6 places
of 5 letters (S U E S S) X to be placed.

= 300 ways 53
 n (letter) = 7
n (C) = 2
n (S) = 3
c) Two letters “C” occupied both end.

C C

= 20
54
a) Three letter “S” and two letter “C” are
together.

S S S C C

3! 2!
4!  
3! 2!
= 24 ways

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Example 16(b)
How many different arrangements are
there for the letters of the word
ARRANGEMENTS if

a) it begins with “R” and ends with “E”

b) the two letters “E” are separated
c) the two letters “E” and the two letters
“A” are together
d) the consonant letters G, M, T, S are
together
e) the two letters “N” occupied both ends
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