A Dab of Math continued

Yesterday was all about arrangement #1 of 2, today is all about arrangement #2 of 2 possible variations. In math we use permutations and combinations to talk about the way we group items. When the order does not matter we talk about combinations. In the case of these two paintings order does matter. We call this a permutation. More specifically the permutation of the paintings has no repetition.

I have always found these two words confusing. When I lock my bike up I use a combination lock. This is actually a permutation of numbers. The order I place the numbers into the combination matters. For example: 1234 is different from 2341. Another type of permutation does have repetition. Would not work for these two pics.

Whenever I use permutations of color to paint the same sketch I feel like I am cheating. If I use 4 colors to paint, I could actually create 24 different paintings of the same content. It seems a little boring, but I find the process fascinating because of the differences in color when I mix by hand. Today's painting is a perfect example. I mixed the paint fresh, trying to match the colors from yesterday. Of course they did not match and I failed to mix enough paint to complete the picture, so had to mix more. Of course these did not match. This is why we purchase or mix more paint than we think we need. The painting is more interesting because of these slight variations in color. This reminded me of how wonderful it is to paint my circles. I can enjoy the process without worrying about the outcome.