Question

7) PG & E have 12 linemen working Tuesdays in Placer County. They work in groups of 8. How many

Answer 1

Part A

Since order matters, we use the nPr permutation formula

We use n = 12 and r = 8

$_{n}P_{r} = \frac{n!}{(n-r)!}\\\\_{12}P_{8} = \frac{12!}{(12-8)!}\\\\_{12}P_{8} = \frac{12!}{4!}\\\\_{12}P_{8} = \frac{12*11*10*9*8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1}{4*3*2*1}\\\\_{12}P_{8} = \frac{479,001,600}{24}\\\\_{12}P_{8} = 19,958,400$

There are a little under 20 million different permutations.

Answer: 19,958,400

Side note: your teacher may not want you to type in the commas

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Part B

In this case, order doesn't matter. We could use the nCr combination formula like so.

$_{n}C_{r} = \frac{n!}{r!(n-r)!}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{12!}{8!(12-8)!}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{12!}{4!}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{12*11*10*9*8!}{8!*4!}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{12*11*10*9}{4!} \ \text{ ... pair of 8! terms cancel}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{12*11*10*9}{4*3*2*1}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{11880}{24}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = 495$

We have a much smaller number compared to last time because order isn't important. Consider a group of 3 people {A,B,C} and this group is identical to {C,B,A}. This idea applies to groups of any number.

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Another way we can compute the answer is to use the result from part A.

Recall that:

nCr = (nPr)/(r!)

If we know the permutation value, we simply divide by r! to get the combination value. In this case, we divide by r! = 8! = 8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1 = 40,320

So,

$_{n}C_{r} = \frac{_{n}P_{r}}{r!}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{_{12}P_{8}}{8!}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = \frac{19,958,400}{40,320}\\\\_{12}C_{8} = 495$

Not only is this shortcut fairly handy, but it's also interesting to see how the concepts of combinations and permutations connect to one another.

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Answer: 495