Saturday, February 12, 2005

Permutations and Combinations in Excel

These are two great functions in excel.

Combinations
The syntax is =COMBIN(Number, Number_chosen). The number is how many things you have. Eg 3 sandwich spreads. The number chosen is how many you want to combine. For example how many different combinations of 2 sandwich spreads can you make when you have 4 spreads available. The formula is =COMBIN(4,2) and the answer is 6 different combinations of two sandwich spreads.

A permutation is any set or subset of objects or events where internal order is significant. Permutations are different from combinations, for which the internal order is not significant.
So the number total number of permutations you can make from 4 objects using 2 objects.
from this formuls =PERMUT(4,2) and the answer is 12.