Originally Posted by
edmscan
Thanks. That is funny .. I forgot that I did this, mind you it was sometime ago. I actually did it to see all the combinations for a combination lock that uses characters rather than numbers. It was just fun. I will definitely look at your file.
Speaking from a statistics viewpoint the numbers used to open a "combination" lock are a set of permutations, not a set of combinations. The name of the object, and I suppose the what we call the set of numbers, is actually a misnomer.
5, 10 15 is one combination of numbers. 10, 5, 15 is the same combination of numbers, although I grant it is not the same order when it comes to locks.
Using the same 3 digits 5, 10, 15:
5, 10, 15 is one permutation. The others are
5, 15, 10
10, 5, 15
10, 15, 5
15, 5, 10
15, 10, 5
If I haven't forgotten any, there are 6 permutations for 3 numbers taken 3 at a time.
The number of combinations for the set (3 taken 3 at a time) is one.
End of statistics 101.
The more we hear silence, the more we begin to think about our value in this universe.
Paraphrase of Professor Brian Cox.