permutation

[ pur-myoo-tey-shuhn ]
/ ˌpɜr myʊˈteɪ ʃən /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR permutation ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act of permuting or permutating; alteration; transformation.
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.Compare combination(def 8b).

Origin of permutation

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

OTHER WORDS FROM permutation

per·mu·ta·tion·al, adjective per·mu·ta·tion·ist, noun

Words nearby permutation

permissivism, permit, permittivity, permonosulfuric acid, permutate, permutation, permutation group, permute, pernambuco, pernancy, pernicious

Words related to permutation

modification, shift, alteration, transformation

Example sentences from the Web for permutation

British Dictionary definitions for permutation

permutation
/ (ˌpɜːmjʊˈteɪʃən) /

noun

maths
  1. an ordered arrangement of the numbers, terms, etc, of a set into specified groupsthe permutations of a, b, and c, taken two at a time, are ab, ba, ac, ca, bc, cb
  2. a group formed in this way. The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is n !/(n – r)!Symbol: n P r Compare combination (def. 6)
a combination of items made by reordering
an alteration; transformation
a fixed combination for selections of results on football pools Usually shortened to: perm

Derived forms of permutation

permutational, adjective

Word Origin for permutation

C14: from Latin permūtātiō, from permūtāre to change thoroughly; see mutation