Multinomial Coefficient Calculator

Enter group sizes to compute the multinomial coefficient.

Result

34,650
11

How it is calculated

Enter the group sizes k₁, k₂, … as non-negative whole numbers separated by commas, spaces or semicolons. The tool adds them to get n = k₁ + k₂ + … (shown as the total) and returns n! ÷ (k₁! × k₂! × …). It builds the answer as a product of ordinary binomial coefficients, C(k₁,k₁) × C(k₁+k₂,k₂) × …, in whole-number arithmetic, so the digits are exact.

Results up to about 9.0 × 1015 are printed as a full integer. Anything larger switches to scientific notation with four decimals, for example 4.7054e+21, which is an approximation. Decimals are rounded to the nearest whole number (2.5 becomes 3), while negative or non-numeric entries, an empty list, or a total above 1,000 give no result. Groups of size 0 are allowed and change nothing.

Worked example

How many different orderings do the letters of MISSISSIPPI have? There are 11 letters: M once, I four times, S four times and P twice, so the groups are 1, 4, 4, 2 and n = 11. The count is 11! ÷ (1! × 4! × 4! × 2!) = 39,916,800 ÷ (1 × 24 × 24 × 2) = 39,916,800 ÷ 1,152. The tool shows 34,650 with a total of 11. Using 11! alone would count 39,916,800 orderings, far too many, because swapping identical letters changes nothing.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering the item count n as one of the groups. The tool adds the groups itself, so for MISSISSIPPI you enter 1,4,4,2, not 11,1,4,4,2 (which gives 24,443,218,800 for a total of 22).
  • Leaving out groups of size one. A single letter such as the M counts as a group of 1; leaving it out makes n one smaller and gives 3,150 instead of 34,650.
  • Reading a result in scientific notation as exact. Above about 9 × 1015 the answer, like 4.7054e+21 for groups 10,10,10,10, is rounded to five significant digits.
  • Using the tool when the items are all different. If every item is unique the count is simply n!, and this formula would divide it down by repeats that do not exist.
  • Typing decimals such as 2.5. They are rounded to whole numbers, so the group size you meant changes.

About this calculator

The multinomial coefficient generalizes the binomial coefficient to more than two groups, counting the number of ways to arrange n items when they're split into groups of sizes k₁, k₂, … (with k₁+k₂+…=n) and items within each group are identical: n! / (k₁!·k₂!·…·kᵣ!).

Combinatorics and probability students use it to count arrangements like the distinct letter-orderings of a word with repeated letters, statisticians use it as the core term in the multinomial probability distribution (an extension of the binomial to more than two outcomes), and computer scientists use it in problems involving anagrams or partitioning items into labeled groups.

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