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Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures.It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many applications ranging from logic to statistical physics and from evolutionary biology to computer science.
In combinatorics, stars and bars (also called "sticks and stones", [1] "balls and bars", [2] and "dots and dividers" [3]) is a graphical aid for deriving certain combinatorial theorems. It can be used to solve a variety of counting problems, such as how many ways there are to put n indistinguishable balls into k distinguishable bins. [4]
Combinatorics, a MathWorld article with many references. Combinatorics, from a MathPages.com portal. The Hyperbook of Combinatorics, a collection of math articles links. The Two Cultures of Mathematics by W. T. Gowers, article on problem solving vs theory building
Lanchester determined that the power of such a force is proportional not to the number of units it has, but to the square of the number of units. This is known as Lanchester's square law. More precisely, the law specifies the casualties a shooting force will inflict over a period of time, relative to those inflicted by the opposing force.
For instance, as shown below, the number of different possible orderings of a deck of n cards is f(n) = n!. The problem of finding a closed formula is known as algebraic enumeration , and frequently involves deriving a recurrence relation or generating function and using this to arrive at the desired closed form.
A class hierarchy in an object-oriented language can be thought of as a tree, with different types of object inheriting from their parents. If different classes need to be combined, such as in a comparison (like A < B) then the number of possible combinations which may occur explodes. If each type of comparison needs to be programmed then this ...
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Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics that studies finite collections of objects that satisfy specified criteria, and is in particular concerned with "counting" the objects in those collections (enumerative combinatorics) and with deciding whether certain "optimal" objects exist (extremal combinatorics).