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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> PERMUT (permutations) |
Syntax:
PERMUT(n, k)
Description:
This returns the number of permutations of size k in a population of size n.
n is the total number of items. n must be > k.
k is the number of items in each combination. k must be > 0 and < n.
n and k should be integers. If this is not the case, PlanMaker automatically truncates the decimal places.
Additional info:
Permutations are similar to combinations (see COMBIN function), except that the order of the objects is important for permutations.
With PERMUT, for example, you can calculate 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 naturally protest if you suddenly rearranged 1st-3rd places according to the first letters of their surnames.
The order plays a role in the permutations but not in the combinations.
Example:
Let's take a closer look at the example with the runners. You want to know how many permutations there are for the first 3 places in a race with 10 runners. The formula for this is as follows:
PERMUT(10, 3)
Result: There are 720 possible variations.
See also: