document.write( "Question 1025274: What is distinguishable permutations
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Algebra.Com's Answer #640550 by Edwin McCravy(20060)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! \r\n" ); document.write( "Take the word DEED\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "If we make one D capital and the other small d and\r\n" ); document.write( "do the same with the E, we have these \r\n" ); document.write( "4! = 4*3*2*1 = 4P4 = 24 permutations:\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "1. DdEe\r\n" ); document.write( "2. DdeE\r\n" ); document.write( "3. DEde\r\n" ); document.write( "4. DEed\r\n" ); document.write( "5. DedE\r\n" ); document.write( "6. DeEd\r\n" ); document.write( "7. dDEe\r\n" ); document.write( "8. dDeE\r\n" ); document.write( "9. dEDe\r\n" ); document.write( "10. dEeD\r\n" ); document.write( "11. deDE\r\n" ); document.write( "12. deED\r\n" ); document.write( "13. EDde\r\n" ); document.write( "14. EDed\r\n" ); document.write( "15. EdDe\r\n" ); document.write( "16. EdeD\r\n" ); document.write( "17. EeDd\r\n" ); document.write( "18. EedD\r\n" ); document.write( "19. eDdE\r\n" ); document.write( "20. eDEd\r\n" ); document.write( "21. edDE\r\n" ); document.write( "22. edED\r\n" ); document.write( "23. eEDd\r\n" ); document.write( "24. eEdD\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "For instance, we can tell the difference between \r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "EDed, EdeD, eDEd, and edED\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "But if we spell them all with capital letters we cannot\r\n" ); document.write( "tell them apart. They all look like EDED. So we cannot\r\n" ); document.write( "distinguish them, so we label them \"indistinguishable\".\r\n" ); document.write( "However we can tell the difference between EDED and DEDE.\r\n" ); document.write( "They are \"distinguishable\".\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "So there are only 6 distinguishable permutations of DEED.\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "They are\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "1. DDEE\r\n" ); document.write( "2. DEDE\r\n" ); document.write( "3. DEED\r\n" ); document.write( "4. EDDE\r\n" ); document.write( "5. EDED\r\n" ); document.write( "6. EEDD\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "That's because the 4! = 4*3*2*1 4P4 = 24 counts each one\r\n" ); document.write( "2! = 2*1 = 2P2 = 2 times too many for the D's and also\r\n" ); document.write( "2 times too many for the E's. Tham means that the 24\r\n" ); document.write( "counts each permutation 4 times too many. So to get the \r\n" ); document.write( "6, we begin with the 24! and divide by the product of each \r\n" ); document.write( "of the factorials of the numbers of indistinguishable letters.\r\n" ); document.write( "So we divide 24 by 2! and again by 2! so we end up dividing\r\n" ); document.write( "24 by 4 getting 6.\r\n" ); document.write( "\r\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " |