Solve Combinatorial Problems Using Permanent

A permanent is similar to a determinant, except that all terms have a positive sign.

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Permanent[\!\(\* TagBox[ RowBox[{"(", "", GridBox[{ { SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"1", ",", "1"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"1", ",", "2"}]]}, { SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"2", ",", "1"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"2", ",", "2"}]]} }, GridBoxAlignment->{ "Columns" -> {{Left}}, "ColumnsIndexed" -> {}, "Rows" -> {{Baseline}}, "RowsIndexed" -> {}, "Items" -> {}, "ItemsIndexed" -> {}}, GridBoxSpacings->{"Columns" -> { Offset[0.27999999999999997`], { Offset[0.7]}, Offset[0.27999999999999997`]}, "ColumnsIndexed" -> {}, "Rows" -> { Offset[0.2], { Offset[0.4]}, Offset[0.2]}, "RowsIndexed" -> {}, "Items" -> {}, "ItemsIndexed" -> {}}], "", ")"}], Function[BoxForm`e$, MatrixForm[BoxForm`e$]]]\)]

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Permanent[\!\(\* TagBox[ RowBox[{"(", "", GridBox[{ { SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"1", ",", "1"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"1", ",", "2"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"1", ",", "3"}]]}, { SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"2", ",", "1"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"2", ",", "2"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"2", ",", "3"}]]}, { SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"3", ",", "1"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"3", ",", "2"}]], SubscriptBox["a", RowBox[{"3", ",", "3"}]]} }, GridBoxAlignment->{ "Columns" -> {{Left}}, "ColumnsIndexed" -> {}, "Rows" -> {{Baseline}}, "RowsIndexed" -> {}, "Items" -> {}, "ItemsIndexed" -> {}}, GridBoxSpacings->{"Columns" -> { Offset[0.27999999999999997`], { Offset[0.7]}, Offset[0.27999999999999997`]}, "ColumnsIndexed" -> {}, "Rows" -> { Offset[0.2], { Offset[0.4]}, Offset[0.2]}, "RowsIndexed" -> {}, "Items" -> {}, "ItemsIndexed" -> {}}], "", ")"}], Function[BoxForm`e$, MatrixForm[BoxForm`e$]]]\)]

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Thus, applying Permanent to a matrix whose entries all equal 1 is a fun but inefficient way to compute the factorial function.

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Table[Permanent[ConstantArray[1, {n, n}]], {n, 10}]

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The permanent can be used to solve the following more interesting combinatorial problem: given sets, each containing a subset of , how many ways are there to choose a distinct element from each subset? First, construct the matrix where the position contains a 1 when subset contains , and zero otherwise.

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sets = {{3, 5, 6, 7}, {3, 7}, {1, 2, 4, 5, 7}, {3}, {1, 3, 6}, {1, 5, 7}, {1, 2, 3, 6}}

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m = Table[If[MemberQ[sets[[i]], j], 1, 0] , {i, 7}, {j, 7}]; m // MatrixForm

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The permanent of is the solution of the problem.

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Permanent[m]

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Confirm the answer by explicitly constructing all tuples.

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Select[Tuples[sets], DuplicateFreeQ]

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