Purpose
Return value
Syntax
=COMBIN(number,number_chosen)
- number - The total number of items.
- number_chosen - The number of items in each combination.
Using the COMBIN function
The COMBIN function returns the number of combinations for a given number of items. A combination is a group of items where order does not matter. The COMBIN function does not allow repetitions. To count combinations that allow repetitions, use the COMBINA function . To count permutations (combinations where order does matter) see the PERMUT function .
Example
To use COMBIN, specify the total number of items and “number chosen”, which represents the number of items in each combination. For example, to calculate the number of 3-number combinations, you can use a formula like this:
=COMBIN(10,3) // returns 120
The number argument is 10 since there are ten numbers between 0 and 9, and number_chosen is 3, since there are three numbers chosen in each combination. This result can be seen in cell D8 in the example shown.
The COMBIN function takes two arguments: number , and number_chosen . Number is the number of different items available to choose from. The number_chosen argument is the number of items in each combination. Both arguments are required.
In the example shown above, the formula in cell D6, copied down, is:
=COMBIN(B6,C6)
At each new row, COMBIN calculates returns the number of combinations using the values in column B for number , and the values in column C for number_chosen . The results can be seen in column D.
Notes
- A combination is a group of items in any order. If order matters, use the PERMUT function .
- Arguments that contain decimal values are truncated to integers.
- COMBIN returns a #VALUE! error value if either argument is not numeric.
- If number is less than number_chosen , COMBIN returns #NUM!
Purpose
Return value
Syntax
=COMBINA(number,number_chosen)
- number - The total number of items.
- number_chosen - The number of items in each combination.
Using the COMBINA function
The COMBINA function returns the number of combinations for a given number of items. A combination is a group of items where order does not matter. There are two kinds of combinations:
- Combinations that do not allow repetitions (e.g. 123)
- Combinations that do allow repetitions (e.g. 333)
The COMBINA function allows repetitions. To count combinations that do not allow repetitions, use the COMBIN function . To count permutations (combinations where order does matter) see the PERMUT function .
The COMBINA function takes two arguments: number , and number_chosen . Number is the number of different items available to choose from. The number_chosen argument is the number of items in each combination. Both arguments are required.
Example
To use COMBINA, specify the total number of items and “number_chosen”, which represents the number of items in each combination. For example, to calculate total 3-number combinations of numbers between 0-9, you can use a formula like this:
=COMBINA(10,3) // returns 220
The number argument is 10 since there are ten numbers between 0 and 9 available. Number_chosen is 3, since there are three numbers for each combination.
In the example shown above, the formula in cell D6, copied down, is:
=COMBINA(B6,C6)
At each new row, COMBINA calculates returns the number of combinations using the values in column B for number , and the values in column C for number_chosen . The results can be seen in column D.
Notes
- A combination is a group of items in any order. If order matters, use the PERMUT function .
- Arguments that contain decimal values are truncated to integers.
- COMBINA returns a #VALUE! error value if either argument is not numeric.
