In English we use the word "combination", without thinking if the order of things is important. In other words:
| "My veggie salad is a combination of lettuce, spinach and broccoli" We don't care what order the veggies are in, they could also be "lettuce, spinach and broccoli" or "broccoli, lettuce and spinach", its the same veggie salad. | |
| "The combination to the locker is 108". Now we do/must care about the order. "801" won't work, nor will "810". It has to be exactly 1-0-8. |
Whereas, in Mathematics we use more precise language:
| If the order doesn't matter, it is a Combination. | |
| If the order does matter, it is a Permutation. |
| So, we should really call this a "Permutation Lock"! |
In other words:
A Permutation is an ordered Combination.
