Permutations and Combinations

Selecting a lead and an understudy for a school play.

Ask yourself - does order/position matter?

• Combination

• Permutation

Forming a committee of 5 members from 20 people

Ask yourself - does order/position matter?

• Permutation

• Combination

Determining the top three winners in a Science Quiz Bee

Ask yourself - does order/position matter?

• Permutation

• Combination

In a cross country race, the number of ways the runners finish in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place?

Ask yourself - does order/position matter?

• Combination

• Permutation

A students locker combination

Ask yourself - does order/position matter?

• Combination

• Permutation

How many ways can a club select a president, vice president, and a secretary from a group of 5 people?

• 12

• 60

• 15

• 125

Choosing 3 toppings for your sundae out of a list of 15.

• Permutation
• Combination
• Neither

Find the number of possibilities:
A group of 25 people are going to run a race.  The top 8 finishers advance to finals.

• 625
• 4.36 X 10¹⁰
• 1,081,575

At Papa John's you are deciding on what you want for dinner. The pizza offers 8 different meats, 4 different cheeses, 3 different crust types and 2 different sauces. How many different pizzas do you have to choose from?

• 32
• 192
• 40,320
• 51,200

Permutation, combination, or neither?
The batting order for seven players on a 12 person team.

• combination
• permutation
• neither