nchoosek
Binomial coefficient or all combinations
Syntax
C = nchoosek(n,k)
C = nchoosek(v,k)
Description
C =
nchoosek(n,k) where n and k are nonnegative
integers, returns n!/((n–k)! k!). This
is the number of combinations of n things taken k at
a time.
C =
nchoosek(v,k), where v is a row vector of length
n, creates a matrix whose rows consist of all possible
combinations of the n elements of v taken k
at a time. Matrix C contains
n!/((n–k)! k!) rows and k
columns.
Inputs n, k, and v support classes of
float double and float single.
Examples
The command nchoosek(2:2:10,4) returns the even numbers
from two to ten, taken four at a time:
2 4 6 8;
2 4 6 10;
2 4 8 10;
2 6 8 10;
4 6 8 10;
Limitations
When C = nchoosek(n,k) has a large coefficient, a
warning will be produced indicating possible inexact results. In
such cases, the result is only accurate to 15 digits for
double-precision inputs, or 8 digits for single-precision
inputs.
C = nchoosek(v,k) is only practical for situations
where n is less than about 15.
See Also