How can I tell the difference between a permutation and a combination? An example my school used for a combination is this: "How many different fruit salads can be made containing 4 fruits if you have 10 different fruits to choose from?" If this is a combination, then the order doesn't matter. But doesn't the order matter in this situation? Because depending on the order you choose your fruits, your fruit salad is different. For example if I chose apples, oranges, bananas, and strawberries, the fruit salad would be different from if I chose apples, kiwis, cherries, and strawberries. I'm just having a tough time distinguishing which questions are permutation questions and which questions are combination questions.

Question

anonymous · Answer

In your example you have taken two different combinations. It should be like this
" if I chose apples, oranges, bananas, and strawberries, the fruit salad would be different from if I chose apples,bananas , strawberries, and oranges."
Now in this, there is no difference according to combination but according to permutation you have selected it in different order
If you need I would give you another example....