permutation

American  

[pur-myoo-tey-shuhn] / ˌpɜr myʊˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of permuting or permutating; alteration; transformation.

   Synonyms:

   change , transmutation , modification

2. an arrangement of a set of objects or elements in a specific order or placement.

3. Mathematics.

   1. the act of changing the order of elements arranged in a particular order, as abc into acb, bac, etc., or of arranging a number of elements in groups made up of equal numbers of the elements in different orders, as a and b in ab and ba; a one-to-one transformation of a set with a finite number of elements.

   2. any of the resulting arrangements or groups.

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permutation British  

/ ˌpɜːmjʊˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. maths

   1. an ordered arrangement of the numbers, terms, etc, of a set into specified groups

      the permutations of a, b, and c, taken two at a time, are ab, ba, ac, ca, bc, cb

   2.  nPr.  a group formed in this way. The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is n !/( n – r )! Compare combination

2. a combination of items made by reordering

3. an alteration; transformation

4. Usually shortened to: perm.  a fixed combination for selections of results on football pools

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Other Word Forms

• permutational adjective
• permutationist noun

Etymology

Origin of permutation

1325–75; Middle English permutacioun (< Middle French permutacion ) < Latin permūtātiōn- (stem of permūtātiō ) thoroughgoing change. See per-, mutation, permute

Example Sentences

Here in Chicago, every coffee shop worth its salt now ladles out some steaming permutation of oat mush with a swirl of tahini or jam, SQIRL-style.

From Salon

BBC Sport analyses the permutations for each player and who could potentially stop them.

From BBC

And are the events of the play permutations spit out by a computer or representations of a protagonist’s considered dramatic actions?

From Los Angeles Times

Houser went on to explain that there are a few different permutations of deputization the administration could pursue, including deputizing National Guard troops or local law enforcement before they start using private contractors.

From Salon

That is half of the division with something at stake, so we have taken a look at the permutations, of which there are many.

From BBC