Mathematical Combination Articles about
Combination
Website Links For
Combination
 

Information About

Mathematical Combination




In Combinatorial Mathematics , a combination is an un-ordered collection of unique elements. (An ordered collection is called a Permutation .) Given ''S'', the Set of all possible unique elements, a combination is a Subset of the elements of ''S''. The order of the elements in a combination is not important (two lists with the same elements in different orders are considered to be the same combination). Also, the elements cannot be repeated in a combination (every element appears uniquely once); this is often referred to as "without replacement/repetition". This is because combinations are defined by the elements contained in them, so the set {1, 1, 1} is the same as {1}. For example, from a 52-card deck any 5 cards can form a valid combination (a Hand ). The order of the cards doesn't matter and there can be no repetition of cards.

A ''k''-combination (or ''k''-subset ) is a subset with ''k'' elements. The number of ''k''-combinations (each of size ''k'') from a set ''S'' with ''n'' elements (size ''n'') is the Binomial Coefficient
: C_n^k = {n \choose k} = rac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}.

As an example, the number of five-card hands possible from a standard fifty-two card deck is:

: {52 \choose 5} = rac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} = rac{52!}{5!(52-5)!} = 2598960.

A combination is a special case of a Partition Of A Set ; specifically, a partition into two sets of size ''k'' and ''n'' − ''k''.

Since it is impractical to calculate n! if the value of ''n'' is very large, a more efficient algorithm is

: {n \choose k} = rac { ( n - 0 ) }{ (k - 0) } imes rac { ( n - 1 ) }{ (k - 1) } imes rac { ( n - 2 ) }{ (k - 2) } imes rac { ( n - 3 ) }{ (k - 3) } imes \cdots imes rac { ( n - (k - 1) ) }{ (k - (k - 1)) }.

Example:

: {70 \choose 4} = rac { 70 }{ 4 } imes rac { 69 }{ 3 } imes rac { 68 }{ 2 } imes rac { 67 }{ 1 } = 916895.


SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS