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In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations).For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set: an apple and a pear; an apple and an orange; or a pear and an orange.
The main application of the combinatorial number system is that it allows rapid computation of the k-combination that is at a given position in the lexicographic ordering, without having to explicitly list the k-combinations preceding it; this allows for instance random generation of k-combinations of a given set.
Combinations and permutations in the mathematical sense are described in several articles. Described together, in-depth: Twelvefold way; Explained separately in a more accessible way: Combination; Permutation; For meanings outside of mathematics, please see both words’ disambiguation pages: Combination (disambiguation) Permutation ...
In combinatorics, the twelvefold way is a systematic classification of 12 related enumerative problems concerning two finite sets, which include the classical problems of counting permutations, combinations, multisets, and partitions either of a set or of a number.
As a demonstration, take E + to be the species of non-empty sets, whose generating function is E + (x) = e x − 1, and 1 the species of the empty set, whose generating function is 1(x) = 1. It follows that the sum of the two species E = 1 + E +: in words, "a set is either empty or non-empty". Equations like this can be read as referring to a ...
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.
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Two examples of this type of problem are counting combinations and counting permutations. More generally, given an infinite collection of finite sets S i indexed by the natural numbers , enumerative combinatorics seeks to describe a counting function which counts the number of objects in S n for each n .