How to Count Permutations with PERMUT in Excel

Use PERMUT to count ordered arrangements — committee roles, podium finishes — when nobody can be picked twice.

You will learn to

• Count ordered selections without repeats
• Turn a count into the chance of a correct guess
• Count arrangements that must include one person

How it works

PERMUT(n,k) counts how many ordered arrangements of k items you can make from n, with no item used twice. Choosing a president, vice-president and treasurer from 12 club members gives =PERMUT(12,3) = 1,320 possibilities, because the same three people in different roles count as different outcomes.

If order does not matter, use COMBIN instead. Dividing 1 by PERMUT gives the chance of guessing an ordered result correctly, such as the top three finishers of a race.

=PERMUT(12,3)