LESSON 3: Combinations

A combination is an arrangement of objects, without repetition, and order not being important. Another definition of combination is the number of such arrangements that are possible.

The n and r in the formula stand for the total number of objects to choose from and the number of objects in the arrangement, respectively. The key points to a combination are that there is no repetition of objects allowed and the order isn't important. List all combinations of the letters ABCD in groups of 3. There are only four combinations (ABC, ABD, ACD, and BCD). Listed below each of those combinations are the six permutations that are equivalent as combinations.
ABC ABD ACD BCD ABC ACB BAC BCA CAB CBA ABD ADB BAD BDA DAB DBA ACD ADC CAD CDA DAC DCA BCD BDC CBD CDB DBC DCB

We learned in the last section that combinations were symmetric. That is easy to see from the formula involving factorials. As an example, C(12,7) = C(12,5). Take whichever one is easier to find. Is it easier to find C(100,2) or C(100,98)? On the calculator it doesn't make much difference, by hand it does.

Finding Combinations by Hand

To simplify the ratio, you want the larger amount of terms to divide out. For example, if you need to find C(12,5), you could also find C(12,7). Either way, you're going to have a 12! in the numerator and both a 7! and 5! in the denominator. You would rather divide out 7! than 5!, because it leaves you less to work with. So, pick whichever r value is smaller, and then work with that combination.
n Cr

= (first r factors of n!) / (last r factors of n!)

It turns out the last r factors of n! is really just r!.

Finding Combinations with the Calculator

There is a permutation function on the calculator. On the TI-82 and TI-83, it is found under the Math menu, the Probability Submenu, and then choice 3. It is shown as nCr. Enter the value for n first, then the function, and finally the value for r.

Examples of Combinations
We experienced combinations with Pascal's Triangle, but there are other places they occur. The old Illinois Lottery had 54 balls, of these 54 balls, six are chosen. None of the six can be repeated and the order of the six is not important. That makes it a combination: C(54,6) = 25,827,165. I was told that on January 17, 1998, the Illinois Lottery will be changing to 48 balls, six of which are chosen. Now, the number of possibilities will be C(48,6) = 12,271,512 How many 5 card poker hands are there with 3 clubs and 2 diamonds? Well, there is no repetition of cards in a hand, and the order doesn't matter, so we have a combination again. Since there are 13 clubs and we want 3 of them, there are C(13,3) = 286 ways to get the 3 clubs. Since there are 13 diamonds and we want 2 of them, there are C(13,2) = 78 ways to get the 2 diamonds. Since we want them both to occur at the same time, we use the fundamental counting principle and multiply 286 and 78 together to get 22,308 possible hands.

Difference between Permutations and Combinations

The distinguishing feature between Permutations and Combinations is not whether or not there is repetition. Neither one allows repetition. The difference between the two is whether or not order is important. If you have a problem where you can repeat objects, then you must use the Fundamental Counting Principle, you can't use Permutations or Combinations.

Distinguishable Permutations
Consider all the permutations of the letters in the word BOB. Since there are three letters, there should be 3! = 6 different permutations. Those permutations are BOB, BBO, OBB, OBB, BBO, and BOB. Now, while there are six permutations, some of them are indistinguishable from each other. If you look at the permutations that are distinguishable, you only have three BOB, OBB, and BBO. To find the number of distinguishable permutations, take the total number of letters factorial divide by the frequency of each letter factorial.

where n1 + n2 + ... + nk = N Basically, the little n's are the frequencies of each different (distinguishable) letter. Big N is the total number of letters.

Example of distinguishable permutations

Find the number of distinguishable permutations of the letters in the word MISSISSIPPI Here are the frequencies of the letters. M=1, I=4, S=4, P=2 for a total of 11 letters. Be sure you put parentheses around the denominator so that you end up dividing by each of the factorials. 11! / ( 1! * 4! * 4! * 2! ) = 11! / ( 1 * 24 * 24 * 2 ) = 34,650. You may want to do some simplification by hand first. When you simplify that ratio of factorials, you get that there are 34,650 distinguishable permutations in the word MISSISSIPPI. I don't want to list them out, but it's better than listing out all 39,916,800 permutations of the 11 letters in MISSISSIPPI. HOW TO COUNT

Many disciplines and sciences require the answer to the question "How Many? In finite probability theory we need to know how many outcomes there would be for a particular event, and we need to know the total number of outcomes in the sample space. In computer science we often need to know how many "strings" of digits can be made using only digits zero and one. For instance, how many strings of length eight can be formed using only the digits zero and one. Two examples would be 11110000 and 10011110. In most cases the simple "enumeration," that is pointing to each object and iterating "1, 2, 3, " until we reach the last object, is too tedious and lengthy to be of any benefit. A special area of mathematics, called "combinatorial mathematics," tackles this problem and develops sophisticated methods for determining "how many" other than by simple enumeration. (Combinatorial mathematics, however, is not limited to just problems of counting.). A subtitle of a book written in the 1950s captures the essence of what we are going to do in this excursion. The subtitle that book is "How To Count Without Counting." We will look at four formulaic methods of counting along with their uses in conjunction with each other. These four involve: a. the fundamental counting principle; b. the principle for counting permutations; c. the principle for counting combinations; and d. the principle of counting permutations when not all objects are distinct. Lets first define some terms. A permutation is an arrangement of objects from a set of objects, that is the objects are chosen from a particular set and listed in a particular order. A combination is a selection of objects from

a set of objects, that is objects are chosen from a particular set and listed, but the order in which the objects are listed is immaterial. Suppose you have 10 DVDs in your home movie collection and you are going to pick two to play this evening. Think of your selection first as the choice of two movies, later on you will decide which you will play first and which second. The number of choices under this circumstance is number of combinations of 10 items taken 2 at a time. It is a combination because the order in which you happen to pick the movies off your shelf is immaterial. Now, think of the choices being made by picking the movie you wish to show first, followed by the movie you will show last. The number of choices under these circumstances is the number of permutations of 10 items taken 2 at a time. It is a permutation because the order of picking the movies is important because you will view the movies in that order. The choice "Die Hard" followed by "A Beautiful Mind" would not be the same as the choice "A Beautiful Mind" followed by "Die Hard," and in counting the number of outcomes each would be counted separately. Suppose the 10 movies are simply identified by letters of the alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j. In the case where you select the movies now and decide later the order to show them, the choice "d,k" would be the same choice as "k, d." That choice is counted only once. In the second scenario, the choices would not be the same (order of selection implies the order of viewing the movies) and would be counted as two separate choices. In the first case, there would be 45 ways of selecting 2 movies; in the second case there would be 90 ways of arranging the two movies. In either case, would you first want to write out all the choices and then count (enumerate) them? BORING! On thing more. In most examples we will usually have more items from which to choose than we are going to select (or arrange). You have 10 movies on your shelf but you only select 2. You have a choice of eight toppings for a pizza but you only choose three. You have twenty friends whom you could invite to a party but you only ask thirteen. (We dont rule out the possibility that you invite all twenty!) We standardize our language about this type of choosing by speaking of combinations (permutations) of things taken at a time. Here can be any whole number, but must be less than or at most equal to you have to choose from!) (You can not choose more objects than

Now we are ready to develop some counting principles, to "count without counting." We begin with the bedrock of all counting procedures, the fundamental counting principle. For each principle we will state the principle and then provide.

ACTIVITY 3: COMBINATIONS 1. Evaluate: a. 8 C 3 b. 12 C 0 c. 15 C 8

2. A poker hand consists of five cards dealt from an ordinary deck of 52 playing cards. (a) How many possible poker hands are there? (b) How many different hands are there consisting of three aces and two kings? (c) How many different hands are there consisting of all red cards? (d) How many different hands are there consisting of 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 1 spade? 3. How many committees of 3 can be formed from 8 people? 4. In how many ways can a committee consisting of 3 men and 2 women be chosen from 7 men and 5 women?

5. A delegation of 4students is selected each year from a college to attend the National Union of Students annual meeting. (a) In how many ways can the delegation be chosen if there are 12 eligible students? (b) In how many ways if two of the eligible students will not attend the meeting together? (c) In how many ways if two of the eligible students are married and will only attend the meeting together? 6. A student is to answer 8 out 10 questions in an exam. (a) How manyvchoices has he? (b) How many if he must answer the first 3 questions? (c) How many if he must answer at least 4 of the first 5 questions? 7. In how many ways a committee of three be formed from a group of 10 members?

8. At MSA Academy Inc., a four person committee is chosen from 15 teachers and a principal. In how many ways can the committee be formed if (a) the principal must be in the committee? (b) any four will be chosen from the group? (c) the committee consists of teachers only?

9. A chef can prepare 20 different dinners. In how many ways can he select 6 of them for todays menu?

10. One serving of banana split contains three scoops of different flavours of ice cream, 3 different syrups, 2 different types of nuts, and with or without whipped cream. How many different ways can a banana split be made if there are 12 ice cream flavours, 8 syrups, and 4 types of nuts to choose from?

11. Suppose 6 female and 5 male applicants have been successfully screened for 5 positions. In how many ways can the following compositions be selected? (a) 5 people regardless of sex (d) 4 females and 1 male (b) 3 females and 2 males (e) 5 females (c ) at least 3 females

12. A warehouse receives a shipment of 20 computers, of which are defective. Eight computers are then randomly selected and then delivered to a store. (a) In how many ways can the store receive no defective computer? (b) In how many ways can the store receive three defective computers? (c) In how many ways can the sore receive all five defective computers?

Probability
Problem: A spinner has 4 equal sectors colored yellow, blue, green and red. What are the chances of landing on blue after spinning the spinner? What are the chances of landing on red? Solution: The chances of landing on blue are 1 in 4, or one fourth. The chances of landing on red are 1 in 4, or one fourth. This problem asked us to find some probabilities involving a spinner. Let's look at some definitions and examples from the problem above.

Unit 6

Definition
An experiment is a situation involving chance or probability that leads to results called outcomes. An outcome is the result of a single trial of an experiment. An event is one or more outcomes of an experiment.

Example
In the problem above, the experiment is spinning the spinner. The possible outcomes are landing on yellow, blue, green or red. One event of this experiment is landing on blue.

Probability is the measure of how likely an event The probability of landing on blue is. is one fourth.

In order to measure probabilities, mathematicians have devised the following formula for finding the probability of an event.

Probability Of An Event
P(A) = The Number Of Ways Event A Can Occur The Total Number Of Possible Outcomes

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) = number of ways to land on yellow 1 = total number of colors 4 number of ways to land on blue 1 = total number of colors 4 number of ways to land on green 1 = total number of colors 4 number of ways to land on red 1 = total number 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) = number of ways to roll a 1 total number of sides number of ways to roll a 2 total number of sides number of ways to roll a 3 total number of sides number of ways to roll a 4 = 1 6 1 6 1 6

Outcomes:

Probabilities:

P(2)

P(3) P(4)

= =

=1

total number of sides P(5) = number of ways to roll a 5 total number of sides number of ways to roll a 6 total number of sides =

6 1 6 1 6

P(6)

P(even) =

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

P(odd) =

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) = number of ways to choose red 6 3 = = total number of marbles 22 11 number of ways to choose green 5 = total number of marbles 22 number of ways to choose blue 8 4 = = total number of marbles 22 11 number of ways to choose yellow 3 = total number 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. P(1) = number of ways to choose a 1 total number of numbers number of ways to choose a 2 total number of numbers number of ways to choose a 3 total number of numbers number of ways to choose a 4 total number of numbers number of ways to choose a 5 total number of numbers = 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5

Outcomes: Probabilities:

P(2)

P(3)

P(4)

P(5)

P(even) =

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

Exercises
Directions: Read each question below. Select your answer by clicking on its button. Feedback to your answer is provided in the RESULTS BOX. If you make a mistake, choose a different button.

1. Which of the following is an experiment? Tossing a coin. Rolling a single 6-sided die. Choosing a marble from a jar. All of the above. RESULTS BOX:

2. Which of the following is an outcome? Rolling a pair of dice. Landing on red. Choosing 2 marbles from a jar. None of the above. RESULTS BOX:

3. Which of the following experiments does NOT have equally likely outcomes?

Choose a number at random from 1 to 7. Toss a coin. Choose a letter at random from the word SCHOOL. None of the above. RESULTS BOX:

4. What is the probability of choosing a vowel from the alphabet?

None of the above. RESULTS BOX:

5. A number from 1 to 11 is chosen at random. What is the probability of choosing an odd number?

None of the above.

RESULTS BOX: