Circular
Permutation
Distinguishing Circular
Permutation from Permutation
with Repetition
Circling Around!
Instructions:
1. This activity will be done as a triad.
2. Assign someone who will be Person A,
Person B, and Person C.
3. Make a circle and arrange yourselves
according to the figure on the right.
4. Counting counterclockwise from person
A, this arrangement is ABC.
5. Persons B and C will switch positions. Starting from person A, what
is the arrangement now? ________________________________,
Is it different from the original arrangement? _________________.
6. Now, persons A and B will switch positions. Starting from person A,
what is the arrangement now? ____________________________.
Is it different from the original arrangement? _________________.
7. This time, person A will move to person B, person B will move to
person C, and person C will move to person A. Starting from
person A, what is the arrangement now? ____________________.
Is it different from the original arrangement? _________________.
One thing you may have noticed is that when people
are arranged in a circular manner, there will not be a
starting point where you begin counting. This is one
of the major differences of this permutation from a
linear permutation, and this affects the way we will
count for the number of permutations of a set of
objects.
A circular permutation is a
special case of permutation
where the arrangement of
things is in a circular pattern.
How circular permutations
differ from linear
permutations?
The objects A, B, and C are arranged in a linear manner.
Some of its permutations are shown above and labeled as M1,
M2, and M3. The permutation M2 is obtained from M1 by
moving A to B, B to C, and C to A. The same pattern is used to
obtain M3 from M2 . The permutations for M1, M2, and M3 are
ABC, CAB, and BCA respectively.
This means that the three permutations are all different.
This time, the objects A, B, and C are arranged in a circular manner.
Some of its permutations are shown above and labeled as P1, P2, and
P3. The permutation P2 is obtained from P1 by moving A to B, B to C,
and C to A. Note that it followed the same pattern from M1 to M2 in the
previous example. The same pattern is used to obtain P3 from P2 .
The difference of the circular permutation from a
linear one is that there is no starting point. We
just count either clockwise or counterclockwise.
If we count clockwise, the arrangement for is
ABC, BCA, or CAB. The arrangement of is also
ABC, BCA, or CAB. The same arrangement is
also observed for . This means that the three
permutations are all similar.
Circular permutations are different from
permutations with repetitions.
Take for example the permutations of ABA: in a
circular permutation, ABA, AAB, and BAA are all
similar
while for permutations with repetition, ABA, AAB,
and BAA are all different.
In determining the different ways
objects in a circular permutation
are arranged, we can simply
swap two objects at a time in
order to come up with a different
permutation.
Similar
or
different?
Sometimes they may look
like they are different, but
they are in fact similar.
Let’s Practice
1. Construct three possible circular permutations
of A, B, C, D, and E.
Step 1: Construct the first circular permutation.
We can start by arranging the letters in order and
clockwise.
In naming this permutation, we will select an arbitrary
point and name it clockwise. In this case, let us select
and read the permutation clockwise. Thus, this
permutation is A B C D E
Let’s Practice
1. Construct three possible circular permutations
of A, B, C, D, and E.
Step 2: Construct the second circular permutation.
In order for us to create the second permutation, we
can swap two objects. It could be any object. In this
case, let us select B and C and swap them.
This permutation is A C B D E.
Let’s Practice
1. Construct three possible circular permutations
of A, B, C, D, and E.
Step 3: Construct the third circular permutation.
To construct the third permutation, you can take the
second permutation and swap another two objects.
Just make sure that the new permutation is not
similar to the previous permutations that you’ve had.
In this case, we can swap C and D to form a new
permutation.
This permutation is A D B C E.
Let’s Practice
1. Construct three possible circular permutations
of A, B, C, D, and E.
Step 3: Construct the third circular permutation.
To construct the third permutation, you can take the
second permutation and swap another two objects.
Just make sure that the new permutation is not
similar to the previous permutations that you’ve had.
In this case, we can swap C and D to form a new
permutation.
This permutation is A D B C E.
Calculating Circular
Permutations
The formula for the number of
circular permutations of a set of
objects is (n – 1) ! , with n as the
number of objects to be
arranged.
How many ways can you arrange 6
objects in a circular permutation?
Given that n = 6, we
can use the formula in
order to determine the
number of ways the
objects can be
arranged.
Thus, there are 120 ways of arranging 6 objects in a circular
permutation.
