RE: odd sort of bit-counter...

Backwards:

Yes, three permutations of the same combination
2^100 is 2 to the 100th power
But here's where I messed up... as you and Bill point out, 2^100th is
still a really big number.  2^10th is 1000, so every 10 more means
multiply by 1000.  SO 2^10th is NOT 1000^2, it is 1000^10, or 1E+30, or
the number you got from your calculator.

Yukko.

Joe


> From: Dan Bale
> >
> > Factorials are permutations.  Combinations are "far smaller",
relatively
> > speaking.  The number of possible combinations of N elements is 2^N,
or
> > in the case of 100 elements, about a million possibilities.
> 
> Darn it dude!  I knew this stuff in the last millenium, but my brain
> turned fuzzy tutoring my kids through 8th grade math!
> 
> So, forgive my ignorance, but what is 2^N?  In the example above, is
it
> 2^100, or 2 to the 100th power?  Windows calculator has a x^y button
and
> when I type 2 [x^y] 100 [=], I get
> 1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376.
> 
> Does the following represent 3 permutations but only 1 combination?
> a) 1, 5, 8
> b) 5, 1, 8
> c) 8, 5, 1