Intuition behind permutations and combinations (2016)

Posted by smithsmith on Wednesday July 12, 2017 @09:22AM
from the buildingvts.com dept.

https://buildingvts.com/intuition-behind-permutations-and-combinations-db6ffa5272be

( 3 comments | 74 points | on HN )

Re:Intuition behind permutations and combinations (2016) by ElysianEagle on Wednesday July 12, 2017 @06:07PM (#14757097)

I remember reading this excellent little book with very easy to understand explanations of some of the basics re. permutations and combinations, back in school:

"Mathematics of Choice: How to Count Without Counting" by Ivan Morton Niven

https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Choice-New-Mathematical-L...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Intuition behind permutations and combinations (2016) by vgddvh on Thursday July 13, 2017 @04:07AM (#14759568)

Why do we need this? What's wrong with good old "there are n ways to pick first element, n-1 ways to pick second, etc and then apply burnside to glue together things that we treat as identical"?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Intuition behind permutations and combinations (2016) by jhgjklj on Wednesday July 12, 2017 @01:16PM (#14754377)

Wow. very different and useful mental model to think combinations and permutations.

[ Parent | on HN ]