combntns matlab,All possible combinations of set of values

combntns

All possible combinations of set of values

combntns will be removed in a future release. Use nchoosek instead.

Syntax

combos = combntns(set,subset)

Description

combos = combntns(set,subset) returns a matrix

whose rows are the various combinations that can be taken of the elements of the vector

set of length subset. Many combinatorial

applications can make use of a vector 1:n for the input set to return

generalized, indexed combination subsets.

The combntns function provides the combinatorial subsets of a set

of numbers. It is similar to the mathematical expression a choose

b, except that instead of the number of such combinations, the actual

combinations are returned. In combinatorial counting, the ordering of the values is not

significant.

The numerical value of the mathematical statement a choose b is

size(combos,1).

Examples

How can the numbers 1 to 5 be taken in sets of three (that is, what is 5

choose 3)?

combos = combntns(1:5,3)

combos =

1 2 3

1 2 4

1 2 5

1 3 4

1 3 5

1 4 5

2 3 4

2 3 5

2 4 5

3 4 5

size(combos,1) % "5 choose 3"

ans =

10

Note that if a value is repeated in the input vector, each occurrence is treated as

independent:

combos = combntns([2 2 5],2)

combos =

2 2

2 5

2 5

Tips

This is a recursive function.

Introduced before R2006a