In: Statistics and Probability
What is the difference between combinations and permutations? Give details
Let's say you choose a committee of three to represent your class of 30 students:
For the first member you have
30 choices
For the second you have
29
For the third you have
28
For a total of 30⋅29⋅28=24360 possible permutations
Now this is assuming that the order of choice is relevant: the first one will be called 'president', the second will be 'secretary' and the third will be just 'member'.
If this is not the case (all three are equal) then the order in which they are picked is not important.
With three picked there are 3⋅2⋅1
=3!=6
possible orders, which all give the same group. These are called combinations .
So: combinations= permutations divided by orders
Or, in our example:
24360/6=4060
It depends of whether the order is important.