Is there a command to write the form of a combination or permutation?
You could use the \prescript
command from the mathtools
package and define two commands; something along the following lines:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\newcommand\Myperm[2][^n]{\prescript{#1\mkern-2.5mu}{}P_{#2}}
\newcommand\Mycomb[2][^n]{\prescript{#1\mkern-0.5mu}{}C_{#2}}
\begin{document}
\[
\Myperm{k} = \frac{n!}{(n-k)!}\quad
\Mycomb{k} = \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}\quad
\Myperm[m]{k} = \frac{m!}{(m-k)!}\quad
\Mycomb[m]{k} = \frac{m!}{k!(m-k)!}\quad
\]
\end{document}
You can define your own:
Code:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newcommand*{\Perm}[2]{{}^{#1}\!P_{#2}}%
\newcommand*{\Comb}[2]{{}^{#1}C_{#2}}%
\begin{document}
$\Perm{n}{k}=\frac{n!}{(n-k)!}$ - permutation
$\binom nk=\Comb{n}{k}=\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}$ - combination
\end{document}
I provide a generic \permcomb
macro that will be used to setup \perm
and \comb
.
The spacing is between the prescript and the following character is kerned with the help of \mkern
.
The default kerning between the prescript and P
is -3mu
, and -1mu
with C
, which can be changed by using the optional argument of all three macros.
Code
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newcommand*{\permcomb}[4][0mu]{{{}^{#3}\mkern#1#2_{#4}}}
\newcommand*{\perm}[1][-3mu]{\permcomb[#1]{P}}
\newcommand*{\comb}[1][-1mu]{\permcomb[#1]{C}}
\begin{document}
$\perm{n}{k}$
$\comb{n}{k}$
$\permcomb[-3mu]{J}{l}{k}$
\end{document}