| permutation | 1. The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange. "The violent convulsions and permutations that have been made in property." (Burke) 2. <mathematics> The arrangement of any determinate number of things, as units, objects, letters, etc, in all possible orders, one after the other; called also alternation. Cf. Combination. Any one of such possible arrangements. 3. Barter; exchange. Permutation lock, a lock in which the parts can be transposed or shifted, so as to require different arrangements of the tumblers on different occasions of unlocking. Origin: L. Permutatio: cf. F. Permutation. See Permute. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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