permutations and combinations 0000000000
- 1. 1 Permutations and Combinations CS/APMA 202 Epp section 6.4 Aaron Bloomfield
- 2. 2 Permutations vs. Combinations • Both are ways to count the possibilities • The difference between them is whether order matters or not • Consider a poker hand: – A♦, 5♥, 7♣, 10♠, K♠ • Is that the same hand as: – K♠, 10♠, 7♣, 5♥, A♦ • Does the order the cards are handed out matter? – If yes, then we are dealing with permutations – If no, then we are dealing with combinations
- 3. 3 Permutations • A permutation is an ordered arrangement of the elements of some set S – Let S = {a, b, c} – c, b, a is a permutation of S – b, c, a is a different permutation of S • An r-permutation is an ordered arrangement of r elements of the set – A♦, 5♥, 7♣, 10♠, K♠ is a 5-permutation of the set of cards • The notation for the number of r-permutations: P(n,r) – The poker hand is one of P(52,5) permutations
- 4. 4 Permutations • Number of poker hands (5 cards): – P(52,5) = 52*51*50*49*48 = 311,875,200 • Number of (initial) blackjack hands (2 cards): – P(52,2) = 52*51 = 2,652 • r-permutation notation: P(n,r) – The poker hand is one of P(52,5) permutations ) 1 )...( 2 )( 1 ( ) , ( r n n n n r n P )! ( ! r n n n r n i i 1
- 5. 5 r-permutations example • How many ways are there for 5 people in this class to give presentations? • There are 27 students in the class – P(27,5) = 27*26*25*24*23 = 9,687,600 – Note that the order they go in does matter in this example!
- 6. 6 Permutation formula proof • There are n ways to choose the first element – n-1 ways to choose the second – n-2 ways to choose the third – … – n-r+1 ways to choose the rth element • By the product rule, that gives us: P(n,r) = n(n-1)(n-2)…(n-r+1)
- 7. 7 Permutations vs. r-permutations • r-permutations: Choosing an ordered 5 card hand is P(52,5) – When people say “permutations”, they almost always mean r-permutations • But the name can refer to both • Permutations: Choosing an order for all 52 cards is P(52,52) = 52! – Thus, P(n,n) = n!
- 8. 8 Sample question • How many permutations of {a, b, c, d, e, f, g} end with a? – Note that the set has 7 elements • The last character must be a – The rest can be in any order • Thus, we want a 6-permutation on the set {b, c, d, e, f, g} • P(6,6) = 6! = 720 • Why is it not P(7,6)?
- 9. 10 Combinations • What if order doesn’t matter? • In poker, the following two hands are equivalent: – A♦, 5♥, 7♣, 10♠, K♠ – K♠, 10♠, 7♣, 5♥, A♦ • The number of r-combinations of a set with n elements, where n is non-negative and 0≤r≤n is: )! ( ! ! ) , ( r n r n r n C
- 10. 11 Combinations example • How many different poker hands are there (5 cards)? • How many different (initial) blackjack hands are there? 2,598,960 ! 47 * 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 ! 47 * 48 * 49 * 50 * 51 * 52 ! 47 ! 5 ! 52 )! 5 52 ( ! 5 ! 52 ) 5 , 52 ( C 1,326 1 * 2 51 * 52 ! 50 ! 2 ! 52 )! 2 52 ( ! 2 ! 52 ) 2 , 52 ( C
- 11. 12 Combination formula proof • Let C(52,5) be the number of ways to generate unordered poker hands • The number of ordered poker hands is P(52,5) = 311,875,200 • The number of ways to order a single poker hand is P(5,5) = 5! = 120 • The total number of unordered poker hands is the total number of ordered hands divided by the number of ways to order each hand • Thus, C(52,5) = P(52,5)/P(5,5)
- 12. 13 Combination formula proof • Let C(n,r) be the number of ways to generate unordered combinations • The number of ordered combinations (i.e. r- permutations) is P(n,r) • The number of ways to order a single one of those r-permutations P(r,r) • The total number of unordered combinations is the total number of ordered combinations (i.e. r- permutations) divided by the number of ways to order each combination • Thus, C(n,r) = P(n,r)/P(r,r)
- 14. 15 Bit strings • How many bit strings of length 10 contain: a) exactly four 1’s? Find the positions of the four 1’s Does the order of these positions matter? • Nope! • Positions 2, 3, 5, 7 is the same as positions 7, 5, 3, 2 Thus, the answer is C(10,4) = 210 b) at most four 1’s? There can be 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 occurrences of 1 Thus, the answer is: • C(10,0) + C(10,1) + C(10,2) + C(10,3) + C(10,4) • = 1+10+45+120+210 • = 386
- 15. 16 Bit strings • How many bit strings of length 10 contain: c) at least four 1’s? There can be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 occurrences of 1 Thus, the answer is: • C(10,4) + C(10,5) + C(10,6) + C(10,7) + C(10,8) + C(10,9) + C(10,10) • = 210+252+210+120+45+10+1 • = 848 Alternative answer: subtract from 210 the number of strings with 0, 1, 2, or 3 occurrences of 1 d) an equal number of 1’s and 0’s? Thus, there must be five 0’s and five 1’s Find the positions of the five 1’s Thus, the answer is C(10,5) = 252
- 16. 17 ! ) ( )! ( ! ) , ( r n n r n n r n n C )! ( ! ! r n r n )! ( ! ! ) , ( r n r n r n C Corollary 1 • Let n and r be non-negative integers with r ≤ n. Then C(n,r) = C(n,n-r) • Proof:
- 17. 18 Corollary example • There are C(52,5) ways to pick a 5-card poker hand • There are C(52,47) ways to pick a 47-card hand • P(52,5) = 2,598,960 = P(52,47) • When dealing 47 cards, you are picking 5 cards to not deal – As opposed to picking 5 card to deal – Again, the order the cards are dealt in does matter
- 18. 19 Combinatorial proof • A combinatorial proof is a proof that uses counting arguments to prove a theorem – Rather than some other method such as algebraic techniques • Essentially, show that both sides of the proof manage to count the same objects • Most of the questions in this section are phrased as, “find out how many possibilities there are if …” – Instead, we could phrase each question as a theorem: – “Prove there are x possibilities if …” – The same answer could be modified to be a combinatorial proof to the theorem
- 19. 20 Circular seatings • How many ways are there to sit 6 people around a circular table, where seatings are considered to be the same if they can be obtained from each other by rotating the table? • First, place the first person in the north-most chair – Only one possibility • Then place the other 5 people – There are P(5,5) = 5! = 120 ways to do that • By the product rule, we get 1*120 =120 • Alternative means to answer this: • There are P(6,6)=720 ways to seat the 6 people around the table • For each seating, there are 6 “rotations” of the seating • Thus, the final answer is 720/6 = 120
- 20. 21 Horse races • How many ways are there for 4 horses to finish if ties are allowed? – Note that order does matter! • Solution by cases – No ties • The number of permutations is P(4,4) = 4! = 24 – Two horses tie • There are C(4,2) = 6 ways to choose the two horses that tie • There are P(3,3) = 6 ways for the “groups” to finish – A “group” is either a single horse or the two tying horses • By the product rule, there are 6*6 = 36 possibilities for this case – Two groups of two horses tie • There are C(4,2) = 6 ways to choose the two winning horses • The other two horses tie for second place – Three horses tie with each other • There are C(4,3) = 4 ways to choose the two horses that tie • There are P(2,2) = 2 ways for the “groups” to finish • By the product rule, there are 4*2 = 8 possibilities for this case – All four horses tie • There is only one combination for this – By the sum rule, the total is 24+36+6+8+1 = 75
- 21. 22 • An alternative (and more common) way to denote an r-combination: • I’ll use C(n,r) whenever possible, as it is easier to write in PowerPoint r n r n C ) , ( A last note on combinations