Need help understanding the total number of different one-to-one functions Theorem: If A and B are

Monserrat Sawyer

Monserrat Sawyer

Answered question

2022-05-26

Need help understanding the total number of different one-to-one functions
Theorem: If A and B are two sets with | A | = m and | B | = n, where m n, then number of different one-to-one functions is n ! ( n m ) ! .
Proof: First consider the special case where m = n, then the total number of possible one-to-one functions is n! - next, if m < n then the total number of one-to-one functions is n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( n m + 1 ), multiplying this by ( n m ) ! ( n m ) ! we see the answer can now be expressed as n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( n m + 1 ) ( n m ) ! ( n m ) ! = n ! ( n m ) !
Two questions:
1. Where did ( n m + 1 ) come from?
2. Why does multiplying n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( n m + 1 ) by ( n m ) ! ( n m ) ! result in n ! ( n m ) ! ?

Answer & Explanation

fongama33

fongama33

Beginner2022-05-27Added 12 answers

Step 1
As the proof indicates, when m = n, then there are n! possible functions. n! can be rewritten as:
n ! = n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . .2 1
Note then that since m = n, then n m + 1 = n n + 1 = 1, so the above expression is synonymous with n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( n m + 1 ).
Or in other words, when n = m, then ( n m + 1 ) = 1.
So think about cases where m < n. When m = n 1 then ( n m + 1 ) = ( n ( n 1 ) + 1 ) = ( 1 + 1 ) = 2. When m = n 2 then ( n ( n 2 ) + 1 ) = ( 2 + 1 ) = 3. Etc. So the ( n m + 1 ) is the construction of the final number in the counting.
Step 2
For your second question, let's go back to the longer expression. When we have something like m = n 5 then we would have:
n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . n ( n 5 ) + 1 = n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( 5 + 1 )
If we continued to multiply lessening values (54321) then we'd have n!. Or in other words, this is just n! divided by 5432 1 = 5! Ie - n ! 5 ! . And of course in this case, n m = n ( n 5 ) = 5, so that expression is the n ! ( n m ) ! - the number of one-to-one functions.
Laurel Yoder

Laurel Yoder

Beginner2022-05-28Added 2 answers

Step 1
"Where did ( n m + 1 ) come from?"
n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) ( n 3 ) ( n m + 1 ) m   total terms in the product
The first term is n. The second term is n 1. The third term is n 2 and so on... to the m'th term being n m + 1. If it helps you to see this, consider writing it instead as n ( m 1 ) instead.
Step 2
"Why does multiplying by ( n m ) ! ( n m ) ! result in n ! ( n m ) ! ?
Step 2
Recall that n ! = n ( n 1 ) ! = n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) ! = = n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) 3 2 1 the product of all positive integers up to n. Here... we can recognize that n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) ( n m + 1 ) ( n m ) ! as being one of those expressions in the middle of the above... that all together the numerator becomes the product of all positive integers up to n.
As an aside, I prefer writing the falling factorial as n m  

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