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Permutations, Combinations and Probability Dec 2012

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37 views4 pages

Permutations, Combinations and Probability Dec 2012

Uploaded by

PVenkataPuneethh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PERMUTATIONS, COMBINATIONS AND PROBABILITY

Permutations and Combinations deal with counting techniques. These techniques are also useful in
probability calculations.

Permutation refers to arrangement of persons or objects or numbers. The order of the items is
important.

In how many ways can you arrange 2 letters from a, b and c, without repeating letters?

The various possible arrangements are ab, ba, ac, ca, bc and cb.

The number of ways in which you can arrange r items out of n items (with no repetition allowed) is
denoted by nPr.

In how many ways can you arrange 2 letters from 26 letters of the English alphabet? If no repetition is
allowed, the answer is 26 x 25. This is the value of 26P2. If repletion is allowed the answer is 26 x 26.

What is the value of nPr? It is n x (n – 1) x (n – 2) etc. up to (n – r + 1). nPr is a product of r factors,


starting with n and decrementing by 1 for every factor. As you increase r from 1 to n, the value of nPr
increases from n to n! (n factorial).

The number of circular arrangements of n distinct items is (n – 1)! if clockwise and anticlockwise
arrangements are different, and (n – 1)! / 2 otherwise.

“Combination” refers to selection. In the case of combination what matters is which items are selected,
and not the arrangement of items. The number of ways in you can select r items out of n items is
denoted as nCr. The value of nCr is nPr / r! (figure out why)

In how many ways can you select a team of 11 from 15 persons? The answer is 15C11, which is the same
as 15P11 / 11!, where both the numerator and denominator are made up of 11 factors. A simpler way is
to find 15C4, where both the numerator and denominator are made up of 4 factors. The value of 15C4 is
the same as 15C11, as you can select 11 players by simply dropping 4 out of the 15 players available for
selection. Whenever r is more than n / 2, it is faster to calculate nC(n – r) than nCr.

What are the values of nC0, nC1, nC(n – 1) and nCn? They are 1, n, n and 1 respectively. As r increases
from 0 to n, the value of nCr goes up from 1 for a while and then comes down to 1.
Exercises

1. In how many ways can you arrange the letters of “MISSISSIPPI”?

The answer is 11! / (4! X 4! X 2!)


2. In how many ways can you arrange the letters of the word “ANSWER” such that the vowels
are always together?
The answer is 5! X 2!

3. In how many ways can you arrange the letters of the word “SECTION” such that no two
vowels are together?

The answer is 4! X 5P3


4. In how many ways can you arrange the letters of the word “MECHANICAL” such that the
consonants are always together?

The answer is (5! X 6!) / (2! X 2!) = 21600


5. In how many ways can 10 letters be posted into 4 different letter boxes?

The answer is 4 raised to the power of 10


6. How many 4 digit numbers can be formed using the digits 0 to 7 without repetition of digits?

The answer is 7 x 7 x 6 x 5 = 1470


7. How many 4 digit numbers can be formed using the digits 0 to 7 with repetition of digits?

The answer is 7 x 7 x 6 x 5 = 1470


8. You have 6 friends. In how many ways can you invite at least one of them for a party?

The answer is 63
9. 10 teams participate in a tournament. Every team plays every other team exactly once.
What is the number of matches played?

The answer is 10C2 = 45


10. In how many ways can 6 boys and 6 girls who are on a picnic, sit around the camp fire, such
that no 2 girls sit adjacent to each other?

The answer is 5! X 6!
11. In how many ways can 17 different coloured flowers be strung on a garland?

The answer is 16! / 2


12. In which regular polygon are the diagonals triple the number of sides?

The answer is nonagon


13. In how many ways can you form a delegation of 3 ladies and 3 gentlemen from 6 ladies and
5 gentlemen?

The answer is 6C3 x 5C3 = 200


14. In how many ways can you form a delegation of 6 members with at least 3 ladies from 6
ladies and 5 gentlemen?

The answer is 6C3 x 5C3 + 6C4 x 5C2 + 6C5 x 5C1 + 6C6 = 381
15. In how many different ways can you mark the answers in a question paper having 6
questions, each having 5 choices?

The answer is 5 raised to the power of 6


16. In how many ways can you arrange 5 supervisors and 5 workers such that they sit
alternately?

The answer is (5! X 5!) x 2


17. In how many ways can 4 students travel to USA if there are 6 different flights available and
with the restriction that a maximum of 3 students can travel on a single flight?

The answer is (6 x 6 x 6 x 6) – 6 = 1290.


PROBABILTY

You can calculate the probability of an event by dividing the number of outcomes favourable to the
event by the total number of all possible outcomes. The denominator is normally easier to find than
the numerator.

What is the probability that a year has 53 Sundays?

Tossing a coin: what is the probability of getting a head when you toss a coin?

When you toss a coin 3 times in succession, what is the probability of getting at least 2 tails?

An unbiased coin is a normal coin with which the probability of getting a head – probability of getting a
tail = ½. In the case of an unbiased coin he 2 probabilities are not equal.

Rolling a dice:

What is the probability of a getting a prime number when you roll a die?

What is the probability of a getting a composite number when you roll a die?

What are the probabilities of getting sums of 2, 3, etc., up to 12 when you roll 2 dice?

What is the probability of a getting an odd number or a prime number when 2 dice are rolled?

Probability questions on playing cards, with and without replacement

Probability questions on selecting a ball from a basket containing balls of different colours: with and
without replacement

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