Difference between revisions of "Combination"

(corrected notation)
Line 9: Line 9:
 
* <math>{C}(n,r)</math>
 
* <math>{C}(n,r)</math>
 
* <math>\,_{n} C_{r}</math>
 
* <math>\,_{n} C_{r}</math>
* <math> C^n_{r} </math>
+
* <math> C_n^{r} </math>
  
 
== Formula ==
 
== Formula ==

Revision as of 20:13, 21 June 2006

Introduction

A combination is a way of choosing $r$ objects from a set of $n$ where the order in which the objects are chosen is irrelevant. We are generally concerned with finding the number of combinations of size $r$ from an original set of size $n$

Notation

The common forms of denoting the number of combinations of ${r}$ objects from a set of ${n}$ objects is:

  • ${n}\choose {r}$
  • ${C}(n,r)$
  • $\,_{n} C_{r}$
  • $C_n^{r}$

Formula

${{n}\choose {r}} = \frac {n!} {r!(n-r)!}$

Derivation

Consider the set of letters A, B, and C. There are $3!$ different permutations of those letters. Since order doesn't matter with combinations, there is only one combination of those three. In general, since for every permutation of ${r}$ objects from ${n}$ elements $P(n,r)$, there are ${r}!$ more ways to permute them than to choose them. We have ${r}!{C}({n},{r})=P(n,r)$, or ${{n}\choose {r}} = \frac {n!} {r!(n-r)!}$.


Examples

See also