Permutation People

Permutation People Are Fun

.....

You can make a book of
"Permutation People" that is guaranteed to make you laugh and to teach you about the math of possibilities known as permutations.

Just follow the easy steps below.

Printable patterns are available at the bottom.

Step1:

Gather all of your "people", (you can print them out below or make your own on our blank), some colored paper to use as front and back covers, a stapler, and a pair of scissors.

Step 2:

Arrange the pictures in the order you desire and place one cover on top and one on the back.

Step 3:

Staple the left edge of your book firmly. Make sure that all of the papers are perfectly aligned.

Step 4:

Now simply cut across the two dotted lines.

Step 5:

This will cut your people into three turnable sections, the neck area, the body area, and the leg area.

Step 6:

Now for the fun. Explore all the different "Permutation People" that it is possible to make. Just turn the strips to mix and match legs, bodies, and heads. You'll be surprised how many are possible!

Step 7:

THE MATH

It may seem amazing, but there are 64 possible people that can be made from our four originals.

You see there are 4 different heads, 4 different bodies, and 4 different legs. So each one of those heads can be matched with each one of those bodies, which also can be matched with each one of those legs.

It turns out to be a multiplication problem,
4 x 4 x 4 = 64. Math people say there are 64 "permutations" in this situation.

If we had drawn 5 original people, the math would be 5 x 5 x 5 = 125. That's 125 different people in our book! With just 6 original people the number of permutations goes up to
6 x 6 x 6 = 216.

Click below to get our four black and white original people. You can print them out and color, or save them and use your computer to "paint" them.

We also have a blank pattern if you want to make your own.

Click below for our already colored people.