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HANDOUT #2: Permutations and Combinations

1 Permutation
Factorial: Many formulas in combinatorics involve multiplying together all the positive integer up to a
particular value n. This is used so frequently that it has its own notation, n! called “n factorial”. It can be

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defined as n! = n · (n − 1) · (n − 2) · · · 3 · 2 · 1. It is convenient to define 0! = 1. Note that if n > 0, then
n! = n · (n − 1)!. The factorials grow very rapidly. 2! = 2, 3! = 6, 4! = 24, and 5! = 120. 70! is the first
factorial that exceeds 10100 , so many calculators that have a factorial button will not calculate n! for n ≥ 70.
100! has 158 digits. Those of you interested in computer programming might try to calculate large factorials

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exactly.

Permutation: A permutation is an arrangement or rearrangement of a collection of elements. The

important feature is that the order of the elements determines the permutation, and a different ordering
represents a different permutation. For example, if the elements are the three letters A, B, and C, then there
are six permutations of these elements: ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA. We generally are concerned

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with distinguishable permutations, that is, permutations that look different from each other or can be tested
to see if they are different from each other. If we consider the permutations of the letters A, A, B, then the
arrangement where the first A comes first and the second A comes last: ABA, looks exactly the same as the
arrangement where the first A comes last and the second A comes first: ABA, so we count this as a single
permutation, not two different permutations.

The number of permutations that are k elements long where the elements are chosen from among n
distinguishable elements is denoted by one of several different notations P (n, k) = n Pk = Pkn . The Multipli-
cation Rule tells us that n Pk = n · (n − 1) · (n − 2) · · ·
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n!
(n − k + 1). In particular, n Pn = n! and n Pk = (n−k)! .

Example 1.1

The number of permutations of the letters A, B, C is 3 P3 = 3! = 6. The number of permutations of

the letters A, B, C, D, E taken three at a time (that is, permutations like ABC, DCE, CEB, and so
forth) is 5 P3 = 5 · 4 · 3 = 60.
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What if among the n elements being arranged there are some that are not distinguishable? If there
are k groups of repeated elements of sizes r1 , r2 , . . . rk , then the number of permutations is r1 !·r2n!!···rk ! . For
example, the number of permutations of the letters A, A, B is 3!/2! = 3, and the number of permutations of
6!
the letters A, A, A, B, B, C is 3!·2! = 720
6·2 = 60.
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It can be difficult to count the number of permutations of n elements taken k at a time when k < n and
there are groups of indistinguishable elements. That is, there is no general formula, and we usually need to
break the problem into cases.
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Example 1.2

Find the number of permutations of the letters in the word BUBBLES.

ANSWER: There are seven letters with a group of three repeated elements, so the number of permu-
7!
tations is 3! = 840.

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Example 1.3

What if we want the permutations where we take only four letters at a time?

ANSWER: Let us break the problem into cases. Consider the cases where the permutation includes
zero, one, two, or three copies of the letter B.

Case 1: If there are no copies of the letter B, then we are counting the number of permutations of the

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letters E, L, S, U. There are 4! = 24 such permutations.

Case 2: If there is one copy of the letter B, then we are finding the number of permutations of the five
5!
elements B, E, L, S, U taken four at a time. There are (5−4)! = 120 such permutations. Oops, that counts

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the 60 permutations from Case 1 that have no letter B, so the correct answer for Case 2 is 120 − 24 = 96.
Alternatively, we could select a location for the B in one of four ways, and then fill the other three places
4!
with three of the four remaining letters in one of (4−3)! = 24 ways. This give a total of 4 · 24 = 96 ways.

Case 3: If there are two copies of the letter B, then we could first choose two of the other four letters

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to go with the two B’s, and then find the number of permutations of the chosen four letters. There are six
ways to choose the two non-B letters (E & L, E & S, E & U, L & S, L & U, or S & U), and then there
are 4!
2! = 12 ways to permute the resulting four letters. The Multiplication Rule then tells us that there are
6 · 12 = 72 such permutations.

Case 4: If there are three copies of the letter B, then we could first choose one other letter to join the
three B’s, and then choose a permutation of the resulting four letters. There are four ways to select a non-B,
and 4!
3! = 4 ways to permute the resulting four letters. This gives 4 · 4 = 16 such permutations.

So the number of permutations of the letters in the word BUBBLES taken four at a time is 24+96+72+16 =
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208.

The number of arrangements of n items in a circle is (n − 1)!.

2 Combination
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Combination: A combination is a subset of a collection of elements. In particular, when we consider a

combination, we are only interested in which elements are selected and NOT what order they are in. Thus,
the combination {A, C, M } is the same as the combination {C, M, A}. The two-letter combinations possible
from the letters in the word LEVEL are EE, EL, EV, LL, and LV, so there are five two-letter combinations
from this collection of five letters.
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The number of combinations of size k from a set of n distinguishable elements

is denoted by one of several
different notations C(n, k) = n Ck = Ckn but is most commonly written as nk which is read as “n choose k”.
n!
The number of permutations of n elements taken k at a time is n Pk = (n−k)! . Each of the combinations of
n elements taken k at a time appears k! times as a permutation of n elements taken k at a time. Therefore,
n·(n−1)·(n−2)···(n−k+1)
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n n!


k = k!(n−k)! = 1·2·3···k .

Example 2.1

How many two-letter combinations are there using the letters E, L, S, and U?

4 4!


ANSWER: This are 2 = 2!·2! = 6.

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Example 2.2

How many different ways are there of arranging four green chairs and six blue chairs in a row?

ANSWER: There are 10 positions to place
chairs. We need to choose which of those 10 positions are
the positions for the green chairs. There are 10 10!
4 = 4!·6! = 210 ways to do this. Of course, this is the same
as the number of permutations of 10 objects when there is a groups of 4 and 6 identical objects.

Example 2.3

How many four-letter combinations are there of the letters in the word BUBBLES?

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ANSWER: Break this into cases considering how many B’s are in the combination. Case 1: If there are
no B’s, there is only one combination
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which three must be selected giving 43 = 4 combinations. Case 3: If there are two B’s, then a combination

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has two other letters of the four possible giving 42 = 6 combinations. Case 4: If there are three B’s, then

there is one combination for each of the other letters ULES giving 4 combinations. This gives a total of
1 + 4 + 6 + 4 = 15 four-letter combinations.

Note that the identity nk = n−k

n

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holds because the formula for nk is symmetric in k and n − k. We

can also see this using the definition of the choose function. For each subset of size k there is exactly one
subset of size n − k, namely the elements of the set thats are not in the subset of size k.
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3 PROBLEM SET #2
1. How many permutations are there of the letters in the word AWESOME
A. using all seven letters?
B. using all seven letters but beginning and ending with a consonant?
C. using only four distinct letters?
D. using only four not necessarily distinct letters?
2. In how many arrangements can two men and three women

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A. stand in a line?
B. stand in a line so that no two women stand next to each other?
C. stand in a circle?

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D. stand in a circle so that no two women stand next to each other?

3. WAYS OF GROUPING ITEMS:

A. How many ways can a group of nine basketball players form one team of five players and one team
of four players?

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B. How many ways can a group of nine basketball players form one team of five players and one team
of four players if the one best player must be on the team of four, and the one worst player must
be on the team of five?
C. How many ways can a group of ten basketball players form two teams of five?
D. (Purple Comet 2003) In how many ways can we form three teams of four players each from a
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group of 12 participants?
E. (Purple Comet 2006) 12 students need to form five study groups. They will form three study
groups with 2 students each and two study groups with 3 students each. In how many ways can
these groups be formed?
F. (Purple Comet 2008) There are three men and eleven women taking a dance class. In how many
different ways can each man be paired with a woman partner and then have the eight remaining
women be paired into four pairs of two?
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4. We select a three card hand from a standard deck of cards. How many such hands
A. are there?
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B. are there with three different denominations?

C. are there with only one denomination?
D. are there with exactly two denominations?
E. are there with exactly two denominations and two colors?
5. (2017 Purple Comet) Consider an alphabetized list of all the arrangements of the letters in the word
BETWEEN. Then BEEENTW would be in position 1 in the list, BEEENWT would be in position
2 in the list, and so forth. Find the position that BETWEEN would be in the list.

6. (1993 AIME) How many even integers between 4000 and 7000 have four different digits?
7. (2013 AIME II) Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, and let N be the number of functions f from set A to set
A such that f (f (x)) is a constant function. Find the remainder when N is divided by 1000.

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8. (2017 AIME II) A special deck of cards contains 49 cards, each labeled with a number from 1 to 7 and
colored with one of seven colors. Each number-color combination appears on exactly one card. Sharon
will select a set of eight cards from the deck at random. Given that she gets at least one card of each
color and at least one card with each number, the probability that Sharon can discard one of her cards
and still have at least one card of each color and at least one card with each number is pq , where p and
q are relatively prime positive integers. Find p + q.

9. (2020 AIME I) Six cards numbered 1 through 6 are to be lined up in a row. Find the number of
arrangements of these six cards where one of the cards can be removed leaving the remaining five cards
in either ascending or descending order.
10. (2021 AMC 12 A) A choir director must select a group of singers from among his 6 tenors and 8 basses.
The only requirements are that the difference between the numbers of tenors and basses must be a

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multiple of 4, and the group must have at least one singer. Let N be the number of different groups
that could be selected. What is the remainder when N is divided by 100?

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11. (2020 Purple Comet) Six different small books and three different large books sit on a shelf. Three
children may each take either two small books or one large book. Find the number of ways the three
children can select their books.
12. (2023 AIME 1) A plane contains 40 lines, no 2 of which are parallel. Suppose that there are 3 points

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where exactly 3 lines intersect, 4 points where exactly 4 lines intersect, 5 points where exactly 5 lines
intersect, 6 points where exactly 6 lines intersect, and no points where more than 6 lines intersect.
Find the number of points where exactly 2 lines intersect.
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4 Homework #2
1. Let S1 and S2 represent two binary strings of length n. The Hamming distance between S1 and
S2 , denoted by H(S1 , S2 ), is the number of positions in which S1 and S2 differ. For example,
H(001011, 101001) = 2. Given positive integers n and k with k ≤ n, count the number of ordered
pairs (S1 , S2 ) of two binary strings S1 and S2 , each of length n, such that H(S1 , S2 ) = k.
2. A 16-step path is to go from (−4, −4) to (4, 4) with each step increasing either the x-coordinate or the
y-coordinate by 1. How many such paths stay outside or on the boundary of the square −2 ≤ x ≤ 2,
−2 ≤ y ≤ 2 at each step?

3. At the 2023 edition of Wimbledon we have 2 · n players. In how many ways can we decide the pairs

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that play in the first stage?

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PROBLEM SET #2 ANSWERS:

1. How many permutations are there of the letters in the word AWESOME
A. using all seven letters?
ANSWER: 7! 2 = 2520
B. using all seven letters but beginning and ending with a consonant?
ANSWER: 3 · 2 · 5! 2 = 360
C. using only four
distinct letters?
ANSWER: 64 · 4! = 360
D. using only four not necessarily distinct letters?
ANSWER: 360 + 52 · 4!


= 480

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2

2. In how many arrangements can two men and three women

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A. stand in a line?
ANSWER: 5! = 120
B. stand in a line so that no two women stand next to each other?
ANSWER: 3! · 2! = 12
C. stand in a circle?
ANSWER: 4! = 24

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D. stand in a circle so that no two women stand next to each other?
ANSWER: 0

3. WAYS OF GROUPING ITEMS:

A. How many ways can a group of nine basketball players form one team of five players and one team
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of four players?

ANSWER: 95 = 18
B. How many ways can a group of nine basketball players form one team of five players and one team
of four players if the one best player must be on the team of four, and the one worst player must
be on the team
of five?
ANSWER: 73 = 35
C. How many ways can a group of ten basketball players form two teams of five?
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(10)
ANSWER: 2!5 = 126
D. (Purple Comet 2003) In how many ways can we form three teams of four players each from a
group of 12 participants?
(12)(8)
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ANSWER: 4 3! 4 = 5775
E. (Purple Comet 2006) 12 students need to form five study groups. They will form three study
groups with 2 students each and two study groups with 3 students each. In how many ways can
these groups be formed?
(12)(9)(62)(42)(22)
ANSWER: 3 3 2·6 = 138,600
F. (Purple Comet 2008) There are three men and eleven women taking a dance class. In how many
different ways can each man be paired with a woman partner and then have the eight remaining
women be paired into four pairs of two?
(8)(6)(4)(2)
ANSWER: 11 · 10 · 9 · 2 2 4! 2 2 = 103,950
4. We select a three card hand from a standard deck of cards. How many such hands
A. are there?
52


ANSWER: 3 = 22,100

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B. are there with three

3 different denominations?
ANSWER: 13 3 4 = 18,304
C. are there with only
one denomination?
ANSWER: 13 · 43 = 52
D. are there with exactly two

denominations?
ANSWER: 13 · 12 · 42 · 4 = 3744
E. are there with exactly two

denominations and two colors?
ANSWER: 13 · 12 42 · 4 − 2 · 2 = 3120

5. (2017 Purple Comet) Consider an alphabetized list of all the arrangements of the letters in the word
BETWEEN. Then BEEENTW would be in position 1 in the list, BEEENWT would be in position

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2 in the list, and so forth. Find the position that BETWEEN would be in the list.
ANSWER: 46
6. (1993 AIME) How many even integers between 4000 and 7000 have four different digits?

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ANSWER: 728

7. (2013 AIME II) Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, and let N be the number of functions f from set A to set
A such that f (f (x)) is a constant function. Find the remainder when N is divided by 1000.
ANSWER: There are 7399 functions, so the requested remainder is 399.

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8. (2017 AIME II) A special deck of cards contains 49 cards, each labeled with a number from 1 to 7 and
colored with one of seven colors. Each number-color combination appears on exactly one card. Sharon
will select a set of eight cards from the deck at random. Given that she gets at least one card of each
color and at least one card with each number, the probability that Sharon can discard one of her cards
and still have at least one card of each color and at least one card with each number is pq , where p and
q are relatively prime positive integers. Find p + q.
ANSWER: 13
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9. (2020 AIME I) Six cards numbered 1 through 6 are to be lined up in a row. Find the number of
arrangements of these six cards where one of the cards can be removed leaving the remaining five cards
in either ascending or descending order.
ANSWER: 52
10. (2021 AMC 12 A) A choir director must select a group of singers from among his 6 tenors and 8 basses.
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The only requirements are that the difference between the numbers of tenors and basses must be a
multiple of 4, and the group must have at least one singer. Let N be the number of different groups
that could be selected. What is the remainder when N is divided by 100?
ANSWER: 95
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11. (2020 Purple Comet) Six different small books and three different large books sit on a shelf. Three
children may each take either two small books or one large book. Find the number of ways the three
children can select their books.
ANSWER: Consider how many children get large books. 1176
12. (2023 AIME 1) A plane contains 40 lines, no 2 of which are parallel. Suppose that there are 3 points
where exactly 3 lines intersect, 4 points where exactly 4 lines intersect, 5 points where exactly 5 lines
intersect, 6 points where exactly 6 lines intersect, and no points where more than 6 lines intersect.
Find the number of points where exactly 2 lines intersect.
ANSWER: 607