Grade 10 Math: Permutations Module
Grade 10 Math: Permutations Module
Department of Education
Regional Office IX, Zamboanga Peninsula
Mathematics
Quarter 3 - Module 1:
Illustrating Permutation of Objects
What’s New
Activity 1: Unlock Me!!! (PRACTICE EXERCISE-NOT GRADED)
Directions: Answer the given problem completely.
Suppose you secured your bike using a combination lock. Later, you realized that
you forgot the 4-digit code.
image: Freepik.com”
You only remembered that the code contains the digits 1, 3, 4, and 7.
1. List all the possible codes out of the given digits.
2. How many possible codes are there?
3. What can you say about the list you made?
Guide Questions:
1. Were you able to list all the possibilities asked for? How did you determine the
different possibilities asked for in the situation?
2. How did you ensure that your list was complete?
3. What method(s) did you use to give the accurate count?
4. Why do you think there is a need to know the number of possible ways a certain
task can be done?
5. What mathematics concept or principle did you use? How was that principle
applied?
What Is It
Permutation of Objects
A permutation of n objects taken r at a time is an arrangement of r of the n
objects in a specific order. The symbol for this number is P (n, r).
Remember:
1. A permutation is an arrangement or sequence of selections of objects
from a single set.
2. Repetitions are not allowed. Equivalently the same element may not
appear more than once in an arrangement.
3. The order in which the elements are selected or arranged is significant.
Example 1: The number of photographs of 10 friends taken 3 at a time.
Calculate P (10, 3),
P (10, 3) = 10 · 9 · 8 = 720. Note that you start with 10 and multiply 3 numbers.
A general formula, using the multiplication principle:
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P (n, r) = n · (n − 1) · (n − 2)· · ·(n − r + 1).
Note that there are r consecutive numbers on the right-hand side.
Example 2: In how many ways can you choose a President, Secretary and Treasurer for
a club from 12 candidates, if each candidate is eligible for each position, but no
candidate can hold 2 positions? Why are conditions 1, 2 and 3 satisfied here?
P (12, 3) = 12 × 11 × 10 = 1, 320.
Condition 1 is satisfied because we have a single set of 12 candidates for all 3 positions.
Condition 2 is satisfied because no one can hold more than one position.
Condition 3 is satisfied because being president is different than being treasurer or
secretary.
FACTORIALS
Example 1: In how many ways can you arrange 5 math books on a shelf?
5! = P (5, 5) = 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 = 120
The number P(n, n) = n · (n − 1) · (n − 2)· · · 1 is denoted by n! or “n factorial”.
n! counts the number of ways that n objects can be arranged in a row.
n! grows fast: 1! = 1, 2! = 2, 2! = 6, 4! = 24, 5! = 120, 6! = 720, 7! = 5, 040, 8! = 40, 320,
9! = 362, 880, 10! = 3, 628, 800, . . . n!
We can rewrite our formula for P (n, r) in terms of factorials:
P (n, r) = n!__
(n − r)!
Example 2:
(a) Evaluate 12!
(b) Evaluate P (12, 7).
Solutions:
a. 12! = P (12, 12) = 12 x 11 x · · · 2 x 1 = 479, 001, 600.
12! 479,001,600
b. P (12, 7) = = = 95, 040
7! 5,040
PERMUTATIONS OF OBJECTS WITH SOME ALIKE
Example 1: How many words can we make by rearranging the letters of the word BEER?
The set {B, E, E, R} = {B, E, R} but we really have 4 letters with which to work. So
let us start with the set {B, R, E , E }. We arrange them in 4! = 24 ways:
B B B R R R E E E E E E
R E E B E E B B E R R E
E R E E B E R E B B E R
E E R E E B E R R E B B
B B B R R R E E E E E E
R E E B E E B B E R R E
E R E E B E R E B B E R
E E R E E B E R R E B B
If we cannot tell the difference between E and E (they are both just E), then the
words group into pairs, e.g., EEBR and EEBR group together — both are the word
EEBR.
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Thus, the number of different words we can form by rearranging the letters must be
4!
4!/2 =
2!
Note that 2! counts the number of ways we can permute the two E’s in any given
arrangement.
n!
In general, the number of permutations of n objects with r of the objects identical is
r!
n!
Note that = P (n, n − r).
r!
Example 2: How many words can be made from rearrangements of the word BANANA?
{B, A, N, A, N, A} = {A, B, N}.
The 'A' is repeated 3 times.
The 'N' is repeated 2 times.
The 'B' is repeated once.
6!
Hence the answer is = 60.
1!∙ 2! ∙ 3 !
Solutions:
a. Boys can sit on the circular table in (4-1)! = 3! = 6 ways. Consider the first boy
(B1) as the fixed element and the remaining boys (B2, B3, B4) are arranged
relative to the B1. Look at figure 1 shown below.
Figure 1
The girls can be seated in 4 places (in between the 2 boys) in 4! = 24 ways
So, the number of ways where boys and girls sit on alternate position is
3!(4!) = (3)(2)(1)(4)(3)(2)(1) = 144 ways.
b. Temporarily treating 2 boys as one, 7 persons can be seated on a circular table
in (7-1)! = 6! ways. Why seven? Because from 4 boys, we treat the two as one,
so we now consider 3 boys and 4 girls. However, these two boys can be
arranged within themselves in 2! = 2 ways.
Hence, the required number of permutations = 6! x 2=1,440 ways.
The Fundamental Principle of Counting
If one thing can occur in m ways and a second thing can occur in n ways, and a
third thing can occur in r ways, and so on, the sequence of thing can occur in m x n x
r x ...ways.
1. Multiplication Principle of Counting
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If event A can happen in m ways and event B can happen in n ways, then event A
and B can both happen in mn ways.
2. Addition Principle of Counting
If event A can happen in m ways and event B can happen in n ways, then event A
or B can happen in m + n ways.
Examples:
1. In a bakery, it offers a selection of 25 different cupcakes, 10 different donuts and
20 different muffins. If you are to select a tasty treat, in how many different
choices of sweets can you choose from?
Solution: N = 25 + 10+ 20 = 55 ways
2. Kathryn goes to her local pizza parlor and orders a pizza. She can choose either a
large or a medium pizza, has a choice of seven different toppings, and can have
three different choices of crust. How many different pizzas could Sarah order?
Solution:
By the Basic Counting Principle, the number of different pizzas Sarah could
order is
2 × 7 × 3 = 42
What’s More (PRACTICE EXERCISE-NOT GRADED)
Score Descriptors
4 Used an appropriate strategy to come up with the correct solution and arrived
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at a correct answer.
3 Used an appropriate strategy to come up with a solution, but a part of the
solution led to an incorrect answer.
2 Used an appropriate strategy but came up with an entirely wrong solution that
led to an incorrect answer.
1 Attempted to solve the problem but used an inappropriate strategy that led to a
wrong solution.
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10. What do you call the product of a positive integer n and all the positive integers
less than n?
A. powers of n C. n – factors
B. multiples of n D. n factorial