If all 720 permutations of 123456 are put in numerical order, what is the 407th pemutation?

(In reply to clueless by Viet)

I dont know what permutations are either, but from looking at this it could be to do with different combinations of those numbers, as there is 720 ways of arranging 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 (I think).

If that is correct, then as for the actually question, my guess would be it starts with 4, as each starting number has 120 combinations of other numbers. Obviously in numberical order the first 120 would start with one, then the second 120 would start with two.

The 361th would then be 412356. For the 5 digits after the four we can apply the same method to find the number is 425631. This is all assuming that my guess at what a permutation is is correct, and that my calculations are also correct (we can always hope, eh).

Posted by Lewis on 2003-07-23 09:19:48