What are some key words that you need to look for when decid

What are some key words that you need to look for when deciding if the problem is a combination or permutation?

Solution

There aren\'t key words. The only thing I can tell you is that if the order matters, you use permutation. If order doesn\'t matter, you use combination. You just have to read the word problem and try to decide whether order matters or not

There are 2 examples:

A group with 45 members chooses a President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.
Permutation because order DOES matter - you care which person is chose for which office.

A group with 20 members chooses 8 members to serve on a public relations committee.
Combination because order DOES NOT matter - you don\'t care which member was chosen first or last.