document.write( "Question 977434: Decide if the following scenario involves a permutation or combination. Then find the number of possibilities.\r
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Algebra.Com's Answer #599498 by Edwin McCravy(20055) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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Decide if the following scenario involves a permutation or combination. Then
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document.write( "To determine whether it's a permutation or a combination problem, ask yourself\r\n" );
document.write( "this question about a sample pair of applicants:\r\n" );
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document.write( "\"Does the order they are in matter?\"\r\n" );
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document.write( "Which is to ask:\r\n" );
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document.write( "\"Is the pair of applicants \r\n" );
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document.write( "\"John Smith and Jane Doe\" \r\n" );
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document.write( "and the pair of applicants\r\n" );
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document.write( "\"Jane Doe and John Smith\"\r\n" );
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document.write( "the same pair of applicants or a different pair of applicants?\r\n" );
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document.write( "The answer is \"They are the same pair of applicants\", so the order they are in\r\n" );
document.write( "does not matter, so this is a combination problem.\r\n" );
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document.write( "20 applicants choose 2 = \"20 choose 2\" = \"20C2\" =  = 190\r\n" );
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document.write( "Answer = 190\r\n" );
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document.write( "One word of caution here.  If the two positions were totally different, say one\r\n" );
document.write( "position was for a crane operator and the other for a truck driver, then it\r\n" );
document.write( "would make a difference if\r\n" );
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document.write( "\"John Smith gets the crane operator job and \r\n" );
document.write( "Jane Doe gets the truck driver job\"\r\n" );
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document.write( "or whether\r\n" );
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document.write( "\"Jane Doe gets the crane operator job and \r\n" );
document.write( "John Smith gets the truck driver job\"\r\n" );
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document.write( "Then we would have a permutations problem.  It would be\r\n" );
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document.write( "20 applicants position 2 = \"20C2\" =  = 380\r\n" );
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document.write( "But we aren't told that they are different jobs, so we assume they are not,\r\n" );
document.write( "so the order doesn't matter, and it is a combinations problem.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Edwin

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