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permutation
(redirected from Arrangement number)

   Also found in: Legal, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.

permutation

One possible combination of items out of a larger set of items. For example, with the set of numbers 1, 2 and 3, there are six possible permutations: 12, 21, 13, 31, 23 and 32.


permutation
1. Maths
a. an ordered arrangement of the numbers, terms, etc., of a set into specified groups
b. a group formed in this way. The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is n&! / (n--r)&!
2. a fixed combination for selections of results on football pools

permutation [‚pər·myə′tā·shən]
(mathematics)
A function which rearranges a finite number of symbols; more precisely, a one-to-one function of a finite set onto itself.

(mathematics)permutation - 1. An ordering of a certain number of elements of a given set.

For instance, the permutations of (1,2,3) are (1,2,3) (2,3,1) (3,1,2) (3,2,1) (1,3,2) (2,1,3).

Permutations form one of the canonical examples of a "group" - they can be composed and you can find an inverse permutation that reverses the action of any given permutation.

The number of permutations of r things taken from a set of n is

n P r = n! / (n-r)!

where "n P r" is usually written with n and r as subscripts and n! is the factorial of n.

What the football pools call a "permutation" is not a permutation but a combination - the order does not matter.

2. A bijection for which the domain and range are the same set and so

f(f'(x)) = f'(f(x)) = x.


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