permutation

About 0.74 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun One of the ways something exists, or the ways a set of objects can be ordered.

   Which permutation for completing our agenda items makes the most sense?

2. noun A one-to-one mapping from a finite set to itself.

   This permutation takes each element to the one following it, with the last mapped back to the first.

3. noun An ordering of a finite set of distinct elements.

   There are six permutations of three elements, e.g. {abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, cba}.

4. noun A transformation of a set's prime form, by applying one or more of certain operations, specifically, transposition, inversion, and retrograde.

Similar words

transposition switch substitution replacement commutation swap rotation pairing alternation sequencing

Often followed by

of and is matrix group test tests in groups

Word family

permutational permutations