Permutation Activity 1

Objectives

Students will be able to calculate a factorial and permutation using a formula.

Students will understand what factorials and permutation are.

Materials/ Resources needed

Counting Sticks (Match sticks), Paper, Pencil

Process (How to do the activity)

Problem

Say, three people are eligible to win two distinct prizes.

Method

Now the students can reason this out. They can use the counting sticks to solve this simple permutation. They can use certain colours to distinguish the participants, who won, who didn’t. They can also write the three names on a sheet of paper and use three colours for winners and losers as shown below.

Win 1 Prize (W1) Win 2 Prize (W2) Loss (LS)

Shariff	W1	W1	W2	LS	W2	LS
Ashwini	W2	LS	W1	W1	LS	W2
Rakesh	LS	W2	LS	W2	W1	W1

Extend this problem by asking the students how 10 people can win 4 prizes. This will be difficult to do manually and hence the formula will need to be used.

Evaluation at the end of the activity

Student tries to solve the following problem. First tries it in a table with 3 office positions and 3 members then uses the formula.

A SDMC elects a president, vice-president, and secretary. How many sets of officers are possible if there are 15 members and any member can be elected to each position ? No person can hold more than one position.

Answer : 2730