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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> PERMUT (permutations) |
Syntax:
PERMUT(n, k)
Description:
Returns the number of permutations of size k in a population of size n.
n is the total number of items. Must be > k.
k is the number of items in each combination. Must be > 0 and < n.
n and k should be integers. Digits right of the decimal point are ignored by PlanMaker.
Annotation:
Permutations are similar to combinations (see COMBIN function), except that the order of the objects is important for permutations.
With PERMUT you can calculate, for example, how many possibilities there are for the first 3 places in a race with 10 participants. With COMBIN, on the other hand, you can determine how many possibilities there are when drawing 6 balls from 49.
The difference: While the order of the lottery numbers drawn can be changed at will (you could, for example, sort them in ascending order afterwards), the runners would of course protest if you suddenly re-sort the places 1-3 according to the first letters of the surnames.
The arrangement plays a role in the variations, but not in the combinations.
Example:
Let us take up the example with the runners. You want to know how many variations there are for the first 3 places in a race with 10 runners. The formula for this is:
PERMUT(10, 3)
Result: There are 720 possible variations.
See also: