PERMUTATIONS

Definition :
Any arrangement of a set of n objects in a given order is called a permutation of
the objects (taken all at a time).

Any arrangement of any r, rn, of these objects in a given order is called an

r-permutation or permutation of n objects taken r at a time.

Total number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is denoted by

P(n, r) ornPr .
Consider the set S ={A, B, C, D}

Consider all possible permutations of 4 elements taken 2 at a time

A B
A C
A D
B A
B C
B D
C A
C B
C D
D A
D B
D C

Thus, P(4, 2) = 12
Consider all possible permutations of 4 elements taken 3 at a time

A B C
A B D
A C B
A C D
A D B
A D C
B A C
B A D
B C A
B C D
B D A
B D C
C A B
C A D
C B A
C B D
C D A
C D B
D A B
D A C
D B A
D B C
D C A
D C B

Thus, 4P3 = 24
Consider the set A = {Green, White, Orange, Blue, Yellow}
Consider some permutations of 3 elements out of 5 elements

Following are some of the permutations :

Green White Orange

White Blue Yellow
Orange Green Yellow
Blue White Green
Yellow Orange Green
White Orange Green
Blue White Yellow

Find all remaining permutations and hence determine P(5, 3)

Theorem : If n is a positive integer and r is an integer with 1rn, then the number
of all r-permutations of n distinct objects is

P(n, r) = n(n – 1)(n – 2)(n – 3) …….. (n – r + 1)

Explanation ;

Place 1 2 3 ⋯ ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ r–1 r

Number
Number n n-1 n-2 n–r+2 n–r+1
of ways

Notation :

n != n×(n – 1)×(n – )×(n – 3) × ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ × 3 × 2 × 1

Hence, the formula for P(n, r) can be written as follows :

𝑛!
𝑃(𝑛, 𝑟) =
(𝑛 − 𝑟)!
Example :

(1) P(5, 3)

P(5, 3) = 5  4  3 = 60

(2) P(4, 2)

P(4, 2) = 4 × 3 = 12

(3) P(6, 2)

P(6, 3) = 6 × 5 = 30

(4) P(8, 5)

P(8, 5) = 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 = 6720

(5) P(5, 5)

P(5, 5) = 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 5 ! = 120
(6) Find the number of 5 – permutations of a set with 9 elements

P(9, 5) = 9 × 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 = 15120

Home work

(7) Compute : P(6, 2), P(5, 4), P(8, 6), P(8, 4), P(6, 6)

(8) List all permutations of {a, b, c}

a b c

a c b

b a c

b c a

c a b

c b a

Hence P(3, 3) = 3 ! = 6
 (9) (a) How many threedigit numbers can be formed from the digits 2, 3, 5, 6,
7 and 9, if the repetitions are not allowed ?
(b) How many of these are less than 400 ?
(c) How many of these are even ?

Solution :

(a) To form a three-digit number is an arrangement of the digits from the given
6 digits.

6 5 4

Thus, the total number is given by P(6, 3) = 6  5  4 = 120

(b)

The first digit of the number has to be either 2 or 3, since the number should
be less than 400.

2 or 3
2 5 4
 Total number of desired numbers = 2  5  4 = 40

(c) For numbers to be even, the last digit has to be either 2 or 6

2 or 6
5 4 2

Total number of desired numbers = 5  4  2 = 40

(10) A group contains n men and n women. How many ways are there to
arrange these people in a row if the men and women are alternate ?

M W M W M W M W

W M W M W M W M
(11) How many permutations of the letters A B C D E F G contain

(a) the string BCD ?

(b) the string CFGA ?

(c) the strings BA and GF ?

(d) the strings ABC and DE ?

(e) the strings ABC and CDE ?

(f) the strings CBA and BED ?

(12) How many ways are there for 8 men and 5 women to stand in a line so
that no two women stand next to each other ?

(13) In how many ways can 4 Mathematics books, 3 History books, 3

Chemistry books and 2 Sociology books be arranged on a shelf so that all
books of the same subject are together ?

(14) Consider the six digits 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7. Assuming that repetitions

are not permitted, answer the following :
(a) How many fourdigit numbers can be formed from the six digits 1, 2,
3, 5, 6 and 7 ?
(b) How many of these numbers are less than 4,000 ?
(c) How many of the numbers in (a) are even ?
(d) How many of the numbers in (a) are odd ?
(e) How many of the numbers in (a) are a multiple of 5 ?
(f) How many of the numbers in (a) contain both digits 5 and 7 ?
 Digits under consideration are 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7

Place number 1 2 3 4

Homework

(15) Consider the six digits 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9. Assuming that repetitions

are not permitted, answer the following :
(a) How many threedigit numbers can be formed from the six digits 2,
3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 ?
(b) How many of these numbers are less than 4,00 ?
(c) How many of the numbers in (a) are even ?
(d) How many of the numbers in (a) are odd ?

(16) Find n if
(a) P(n, 2) = 72
(b) P(n, 4) = 42P(n, 2)
(c) 2P(n, 2) + 50 = P(2n, 2)
(17) Find the number of ways that a party of seven persons can be
arranged

(a) in a row of seven chairs

(b) around a circular table

 COMBINATION

Definition : An rcombination of elements of a set is an unordered selection of r

elements from the set.

That is rcombination is a subset of the set containing r elements.

Theorem : Let n be a nonnegative integer and r is an integer such that 0  r  n.

Then total number of rcombinations of a set of n elements is equal to

𝑛 𝑛!
( ) =
𝑟 𝑟! (𝑛 − 𝑟)!

Note that : P(n, r) = C(n, r)  r!

Theorem : Let n and r be nonnegative integers such that r  n. Then

C(n, r) = C(n, r – 1)
Example 1 : Write all combinations of four objects A, B, C and D taken 3 at a time

ABC, ABD, ACD, BCD

That is, C(4, 3) = 4

Combination Permutation
ABC ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA
ABD ABD, ADB, BAD, BDA, DAB, DBA
ACD ACD, ADC, CAD, CDA, DAC, DCA
BCD BCD, BDC, CBD, CDB, DBC, DCB

Example 2 : How many committees of three can be formed from 8 people ?

8 8! 8! 8 × 7 × 6
( ) = = = = 56
3 3! (8 − 3)! 3! 5! 3 × 2 ×1
Example 3 : Compute C(15, 4)

15! 15! 15 × 14 × 13 × 12
𝐶 (15, 4) = = =
4! (15 − 4)! 4! 11! 4 ×3 × 2 ×1
= 1365

Example 4 : How many committees of five with a given chairperson can be

selected from 12 persons ?

A chairperson can be chosen in 12 number of ways

The other 4 committee members can be chosen from remaining 11 persons in

C(11, 4) number of ways

Total number of desired committees = 12 C(11, 4) = 3960

Example 5 : In how many ways can a set of five letters be selected from the
English alphabet ?

26 26! 26!
( ) = = = 65780
5 5! (26 − 5)! 5! 21!
Example 6 : How many ways are there for 8 men and 5 women to stand in a line
so that no two women stand next to each other ?

M M M M M M M M

There are 8 positions for Men and 9 possible positions for Women

 Consider arrangement for Men (8!)

 Select any 5 positions for Women out of 9 possible positions (C(9, 5))
 Consider arrangement of the 5 Women (5!)

Total number of arrangements = (8!) × C(9, 5) × (5!)

9!
= 8! × × 5!
5! 4!

= (8 × 7 × 6 × 5) × 9!

= 60,96,38,400
Example 7 : How many bit strings of length 8 contain
(i) exactly five 1’s ?
(ii) an equal number 0’s and 1’s ?
(iii) at least four 1’s ?
(iv) at least three 1’s and at least three 0’s ?

Solution :

Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
number

(i) exactly five 1’s

Fill up five 1’s and on remaining three places three 0’s

Select five places for 1’s out of eight places. This can be done in 8C5
number of ways. That is
8C5 = 56

(ii) an equal number of 0’s and 1’s

These eight positions can be filled up with four 1’s and four 0’s. Hence,
select any four positions for placing 1’s. This can be done in8C4 number
of ways.
 That is, in 8C4 = 70 number of ways.

(iii) at least four 1’s

These type of bit strings of length 8 can be formed by filling these 8

positions with

four 1’s and four 0’s or

five 1’s and three 0’s or
six 1’s and two 0’s or
seven 1’s and one 0 or
eight 1’s

Thus the total number of ways is

8 8 8 8 8
( ) + ( ) + ( ) + ( ) + ( )
4 5 6 7 8

= 70 + 56 + 28 + 8 + 1
= 163
 (iv)
Homework

Problems :

(1) Seven women and nine men are on the faculty in the Mathematics
Department at a school
(a) how many ways are there to select a committee of five members of the
Department if at least one women must be on the committee ?
(b) how many ways are there to select a committee of five members of
the Department if at least one women and at least one man must be on
the committee ?

(2) The English alphabet contains 21 consonants and 5 vowels. How many
strings of six lowercase letters (with repetitions allowed) of the English
alphabet contain
(a) exactly one vowel ?
(b) exactly two vowels ?
(c) at least one vowel ?
(d) at least two vowels ?

Place Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
 (3) Suppose that a Department contains 10 men and 15 women. How many
ways are there to form a committee with six members if it must have the
same number of men and women ?

(4) How many bit strings contain exactly eight 0’s and ten 1’s, if every ‘0’ must
be immediately followed by a 1 ?

* 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 (5) A woman has 11 close friends of whom 6 are also women

(a) In how many ways can she invite three or more to a party ?

(b) In how many ways can she invite three or more of them if she wants
the same number of men as women (including herself) ?

(6) Suppose that a Department contains 10 men and 15 women. How many
ways are there to form a committee with six members if it must have more
women than men ?

(7) There are two girls and seven boys in a chess club. A team of four persons
must be chosen for a tournament, and there must be at least one girl on the
team. In how many ways can this be done ?

(8) How many ways are there to divide 10 boys into two basketball teams of 5
boys each ?

(9) Ten points are marked on a plane so that no three of them are on the same
straight line. How many triangles are there with vertices at these points ?

(10) Ten points are marked on a straight line, and 11 points are marked on
another line, parallel to the first one. How many
(a) triangles
(b) quadrilaterals
are there with vertices at these points ?
(11) There are four married couples in a club. How many ways are there to
choose a committee of three members so that no two spouses are the members
of the committee ?

(12) There are 31 students in a class, including Rohit and Jay. How many ways
are there to choose a soccer team (11 players) so that Rohit and Jay are not on
the team together ?

(13) How many ways are there to rearrange the letters in the word “ASUNDER”
so that the vowels will be in alphabetical order, as well as consonants ?

DANERUS , DNARESU
Not : DAUNESR

Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number

(14) (a) In how many ways can seven people be arranged around a circular
table ?
(b) If two of the people insist on sitting next to each other, how many
arrangements are possible ?
(15) There are six gentlemen and four ladies about to dine at a round table.
In how many ways can they be seated so that no two ladies are together ?

6 1

2
5

3
4
(16) What is the number of arrangements of all the six letters in the word
“PEPPER” ?

Homework

(17) A 5 – member team is to be formed from 12 girls and 10 boys. How

many ways are there to make the choice so that there are not more than 3
boys on the team ?

(18) In how many ways you can choose 10 cards from a deck of 52 cards
so that
(a) there is exactly one ace among the chosen cards ?
(b) there is at least one ace among the chosen cards ?

(19) A coin is flipped 8 times, where, each flip comes up either ‘Head’ or
‘Tail’. How many possible outcomes
(a) are there in total ?
(b) contain exactly 3 ‘Heads’ ?
(c) contains at the most 3 ‘Heads’ ?
(d) contain same number of’ ‘Heads’ and ‘Tails’ ?

HOME WORK

(20) A coin is flipped 10 times, where, each flip comes up either ‘Head’ or
‘Tail’. How many possible outcomes
(a) are there in total ?
(b) contain exactly 2 ‘Heads’ ?
(c) contains at the most 3 ‘Heads’ ?
(d) contain same number of’ ‘Heads’ and ‘Tails’ ?

(21) How many ways are there to distribute seven different books among
15 children, (if no child gets more than one book) ?
(22) How many ways are there to partition 14 people into :
(a) three groups of sizes 3, 5 and 6 ?
(b) two (unordered)groups of size 7 ?
(23) How many roots are there from the lowerleft corner of 4  4 square grid to
the upperright corner if we are restricted to travel only to the right or
upward ?

END

START

RURUURRU
 END

START

Generalized Question :

How many roots are there from the lowerleft corner 0f

n  n square grid to the upper-right corner if we are restricted to travel only to the
right or upward ?

(24) Find the sum of all the 4-digit numbers that can be formed with the
digits 3, 4, 5 and 6 (repetitions not allowed).
(25) Find the sum of all the 4-digit numbers that can be formed with the
digits 3, 4, 4 and 2 (repetitions not allowed).
BASIC PROPERTIES :

Theorem : For any positive integer n and any integer r, such

that 0  r  n, we have

(i) (𝑛𝑟) = (𝑛−𝑟

𝑛
) , 0 r  n

(ii) (𝑛𝑟) + (𝑟−1

𝑛
) = (𝑛+1
𝑟
) , if 1  r  n .

(iii) (𝑛0) + (𝑛1) + (𝑛2) + ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ + (𝑛𝑛) = 2𝑛

(iv) (𝑛0) + (𝑛2) + (𝑛4) + ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯

= (𝑛1) + (𝑛3) + (𝑛5) + ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ = 2𝑛−1