Circular Permutations

Quick Review

Quick Review:

Permutations
Quick Review a) Calculate the number of different arrangements that are possible using all of the letters from the word POSITION. b) If one of these arrangements is chosen at random, what is the probability that it begins and ends with the letter O?

Permutations
Quick Review: Eight people line up (side by side) for the final race of the 100m dash. How many ways can first, second and third place be awarded?

What is a circular permutation?

A circular permutation is the number of different ways you can arrange items in a circle. Example: In how many ways can 5 different people be seated around a circular table? Solution: If it were 5 people in a straight line: 5! = 120 arrangements. However, around a circular table the 5 arrangements may look different, but the relative position of the people has not changed.

Thus, the total number of arrangements is: 5! / 5 = 4! = 24 Therefore: for circular permutations: nPn / n = (n - 1)!

Example: A jeweller has 15 different sized pearls to string on a circular band. In how many ways can this be done?
Example: In how many ways can 4 married couples seat themselves around a circular table if: a) spouses sit opposite each other

b) men and women alternate

Example: In how many ways can 4 married couples seat themselves around a circular table if: a) spouses sit opposite each other

1a) suppose that the first woman takes one of the indistinguishable positions at the table, then her spouse must take the seat opposite. There are now six empty chairs, each distinguishable by its position relative to the first woman. The second woman can choose any of these six chairs, each choice giving a different configuration. Once she chooses a chair her spouse must occupy the seat opposite her. There are now four empty chairs so the next woman has four choices for her chair. Her spouse is then seated and the remaining woman now has two choices for her position. Thus there are 6x4x2=48 ways the four couples can seat themselves around the table.

Example: In how many ways can 4 married couples seat themselves around a circular table if: b) men and women alternate

In this problem suppose that a man is seated first and then the rest of the party are seated around the table starting on his left. The position immediately to his left must be filled by a woman so there are 4 choices. The next position can be filled by any of the 3 remaining men, the next by any of the 3 remaining women, the next by any of the 2 remaining men and so on. Altogether we get 4x3x3x2x2x1x1=144 ways to arrange the couples around the table so that men and women alternate.

Please try these problem at Example: Mom and dad and their 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls) are to be seated at a table. How many ways can this be done if mom and dad sit together and the males and females alternate?

home.

Example: Mom and dad and their 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls) are to be seated at a table. How many ways can this be done if mom and dad sit together and the males and females alternate?

The positions are indistinguishable so seat one of the adults, say the mom, anywhere and then the dad has two choices for his position, either to her left or to her right. Now go around the table seating the children starting with the empty seat beside dad. There are 3 choices for the girl to occupy this seat. Then seat a boy beside her with a choice of the 3 boys. Continuing around the table there are 2 choices for the girl in the next seat, 2 for the next boy and so on. Altogether you can seat the family in 2x3x3x2x2x1x1=72 ways.

Text: #18 page 332

part b

Homework
1. How many different ways can you arrange the letters of the alphabet?
2. How many different ways can you arrange the letters of the word "VISITING"? How many of these arrangements have all three I's next to each other?

3. Determine how many different ve-digit numbers may be made from the digits 4, 3, 7, 8, and 9. How many of these numbers are even? How many are odd? How many start with the number 7?

4. John has seven cookbooks on a shelf. Four of them deal with Italian food, and three of them are concerned with Greek food. How many ways can he arrange the cookbooks... if there are no restrictions? if the different food styles must alternate? if all the Greek cookbooks must be next to each other? if all the Greek cookbooks must be next to each other, and all the Italian cookbooks must be next to each other?

Solutions on the next few pages

Solutions:
1. There are 26 letters in the alphabet. 26 objects can be arranged in 26! different ways (that's more than 400 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 different arrangements!!!)

2. VISITING has 8 letters, thus there are 8! ways to arrange these letters. However, there are three I's which cannot be distingished from each other. These three I's can be interchanged 3! different ways. Thus there are a total of 8! / 3! distinct arrangements of VISITING. To determine how many of the arrangements of VISITING have all three I's next to each other, we may complete a similar problem: How many different ways can VSTNG[III] be arranged? Note that the three I's are treated asone character. Thus 6 different symbols can be arranged 6! times - and these arrangements are all the arrangements of VISITING where the I's are next to each other.

3. There are 5! different ways to arrange the ve digits 4, 3, 7, 8, and 9. The even numbers are those which end in either 4 or 8. Since either 4 or 8 must be chosen for the last digit, there are only two choices for the last digit. In addition, there are four numbers left to pick from for the rst digit, three for the second digit, two for the third digit, and one left for the fourth digit. This corresponds to... 2 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 48 even numbers.

Similar to the previous problem, there are 3 choices for the "last digit" (3, 7, 9) to make the number odd. After that, there are 4 numbers left to choose for the rst digit, 3 numbers for the second, and so on. Thus, there are... 3 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 72 odd numbers.

Another way to solve this problem is to realize that out of the 5! = 120 ways to arrange the ve digits, these arrangements must be either even or odd. Since there are 48 even numbers, there must be 120 - 48 = 72 odd numbers. If the number must start with 7, there is only one choice for the rst digit. There are four for the second digit, 3 for the third, and so on. In all, there are 1 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 24 numbers beginning with 7.

4. With no restrictions, there are 7! ways to arrange seven cookbooks. If the food styles must alternate, they will be arranged GTGTGTG (G = Greek, T = Italian). There are 4 choices of Greek books for the rst slot, 3 choices of Italian books for the second slot, 3 Greek book left for the third spot, 2 Italian books for the next slot, and so on. Thus, the cookbooks may be arranged 4 * 3 * 3 * 2 * 2 * 1 * 1 = 144 different ways. Since the Greek cookbooks must be adjacent, consider them as one unit and determine the number of ways to permute... [GGGG]TTT

There are 4! ways to permute these four objects. However, note that the Greek cookbooks themselves may be arranged 4! ways - thus there are 4! * 4! = 576 ways to arrange the Greek cookbooks next to each other. If all the Greek cookbooks must be next to each other, and all the Italian cookbooks must be next to each other there are two possible scenarios: GGGGTTT or TTTGGGG

GGGGTTT may be arranged 4! * 3! ways. The Greek books may be interchanged 4! ways; for each of these arrangements, the Italian books may be arranged 3! different ways. Thus there are 4! * 3! arrangements for GGGGTTT. If the cookbooks are aligned TTTGGGG, it is the same. Thus there are 4! * 3! + 4! * 3! = 2 * 4! * 3! = 288 ways to arrange the cookbooks in this fashion.