Count Derangements (Permutation such that no element appears in its original position)

Difficulty Level : Medium
Last Updated : 20 Jul, 2022

A Derangement is a permutation of n elements, such that no element appears in its original position. For example, a derangement of {0, 1, 2, 3} is {2, 3, 1, 0}.
Given a number n, find the total number of Derangements of a set of n elements.

Examples :

Input: n = 2
Output: 1
For two elements say {0, 1}, there is only one 
possible derangement {1, 0}

Input: n = 3
Output: 2
For three elements say {0, 1, 2}, there are two 
possible derangements {2, 0, 1} and {1, 2, 0}

Input: n = 4
Output: 9
For four elements say {0, 1, 2, 3}, there are 9
possible derangements {1, 0, 3, 2} {1, 2, 3, 0}
{1, 3, 0, 2}, {2, 3, 0, 1}, {2, 0, 3, 1}, {2, 3,
1, 0}, {3, 0, 1, 2}, {3, 2, 0, 1} and {3, 2, 1, 0}

Let countDer(n) be count of derangements for n elements. Below is the recursive relation to it.

countDer(n) = (n - 1) * [countDer(n - 1) + countDer(n - 2)]

How does above recursive relation work?

There are n – 1 way for element 0 (this explains multiplication with n – 1).
Let 0 be placed at index i. There are now two possibilities, depending on whether or not element i is placed at 0 in return.

i is placed at 0: This case is equivalent to solving the problem for n-2 elements as two elements have just swapped their positions.
i is not placed at 0: This case is equivalent to solving the problem for n-1 elements as now there are n-1 elements, n-1 positions and every element has n-2 choices

Below is the simple solution based on the above recursive formula:

C++

// A Naive Recursive C++ program
// to count derangements
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
int countDer(int n)
{
  // Base cases
  if (n == 1) return 0;
  if (n == 2) return 1;
 
  // countDer(n) = (n-1)[countDer(n-1) + der(n-2)]
  return (n - 1) * (countDer(n - 1) + countDer(n - 2));
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    int n = 4;
    cout << "Count of Derangements is "
         << countDer(n);
    return 0;
}

Java

// A Naive Recursive java
// program to count derangements
import java.io.*;
 
class GFG
{
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    static int countDer(int n)
    {
        // Base cases
        if (n == 1) return 0;
        if (n == 2) return 1;
         
        // countDer(n) = (n-1)[countDer(n-1) + der(n-2)]
        return (n - 1) * (countDer(n - 1) +
                          countDer(n - 2));
    }
     
    // Driver Code
    public static void main (String[] args)
    {
        int n = 4;
        System.out.println( "Count of Derangements is "
                             +countDer(n));
 
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by vt_m

Python3

# A Naive Recursive Python3
# program to count derangements
 
def countDer(n):
     
    # Base cases
    if (n == 1): return 0
    if (n == 2): return 1
     
    # countDer(n) = (n-1)[countDer(n-1) + der(n-2)]
    return (n - 1) * (countDer(n - 1) +
                      countDer(n - 2))
 
# Driver Code
n = 4
print("Count of Derangements is ", countDer(n))
 
 
# This code is contributed by Azkia Anam.

C#

// A Naive Recursive C#
// program to count derangements
using System;
 
class GFG
{
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    static int countDer(int n)
    {
        // Base cases
        if (n == 1) return 0;
        if (n == 2) return 1;
         
        // countDer(n) = (n-1)[countDer(n-1) + der(n-2)]
        return (n - 1) * (countDer(n - 1) +
                          countDer(n - 2));
    }
     
    // Driver Code
    public static void Main ()
    {
        int n = 4;
        Console.Write( "Count of Derangements is " +
                        countDer(n));
 
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by nitin mittal.

PHP

<?php
// A Naive Recursive PHP program
// to count derangements
 
function countDer($n)
{
     
    // Base cases
    if ($n == 1)
        return 0;
    if ($n == 2)
        return 1;
     
    // countDer(n) = (n-1)[countDer(n-1) +
    // der(n-2)]
    return ($n - 1) * (countDer($n - 1) +
                       countDer($n - 2));
}
 
    // Driver Code
    $n = 4;
    echo "Count of Derangements is ", countDer($n);
 
// This code is contributed by nitin mittal.
?>

Javascript

<script>
 
    // A Naive Recursive Javascript
    // program to count derangements
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    function countDer(n)
    {
        // Base cases
        if (n == 1) return 0;
        if (n == 2) return 1;
          
        // countDer(n) = (n-1)[countDer(n-1) + der(n-2)]
        return (n - 1) * (countDer(n - 1) + countDer(n - 2));
    }
     
    let n = 4;
    document.write("Count of Derangements is " + countDer(n));
     
</script>

Output

Count of Derangements is 9

Time Complexity: O(2^n) since T(n) = T(n-1) + T(n-2) which is exponential.

Auxiliary Space: O(h) where h= log n is the maximum height of the tree.

We can observe that this implementation does repetitive work. For example, see recursion tree for countDer(5), countDer(3) is being evaluated twice.

cdr() ==> countDer()

                    cdr(5)   
                 /         \     
             cdr(4)          cdr(3)   
           /      \         /     \
       cdr(3)     cdr(2)  cdr(2)   cdr(1)

An Efficient Solution is to use Dynamic Programming to store results of subproblems in an array and build the array in bottom-up manner.

C++

// A Dynamic programming based C++
// program to count derangements
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
int countDer(int n)
{
    // Create an array to store
    // counts for subproblems
    int der[n + 1] = {0};
 
    // Base cases
    der[1] = 0;
    der[2] = 1;
 
    // Fill der[0..n] in bottom up manner
    // using above recursive formula
    for (int i = 3; i <= n; ++i)
        der[i] = (i - 1) * (der[i - 1] +
                            der[i - 2]);
 
    // Return result for n
    return der[n];
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    int n = 4;
    cout << "Count of Derangements is "
         << countDer(n);
    return 0;
}

Java

// A Dynamic programming based
// java program to count derangements
import java.io.*;
 
class GFG
{
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    static int countDer(int n)
    {
        // Create an array to store
        // counts for subproblems
        int der[] = new int[n + 1];
     
        // Base cases
        der[1] = 0;
        der[2] = 1;
     
        // Fill der[0..n] in bottom up
        // manner using above recursive
        // formula
        for (int i = 3; i <= n; ++i)
            der[i] = (i - 1) * (der[i - 1] +
                                der[i - 2]);
     
        // Return result for n
        return der[n];
    }
     
    // Driver program
    public static void main (String[] args)
    {
        int n = 4;
        System.out.println("Count of Derangements is " +
                            countDer(n));
     
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by vt_m

Python3

# A Dynamic programming based Python3
# program to count derangements
 
def countDer(n):
     
    # Create an array to store
    # counts for subproblems
    der = [0 for i in range(n + 1)]
     
    # Base cases
    der[1] = 0
    der[2] = 1
     
    # Fill der[0..n] in bottom up manner
    # using above recursive formula
    for i in range(3, n + 1):
        der[i] = (i - 1) * (der[i - 1] +
                            der[i - 2])
         
    # Return result for n
    return der[n]
 
# Driver Code
n = 4
print("Count of Derangements is ", countDer(n))
 
# This code is contributed by Azkia Anam.

C#

// A Dynamic programming based
// C# program to count derangements
using System;
 
class GFG
{
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    static int countDer(int n)
    {
        // Create an array to store
        // counts for subproblems
        int []der = new int[n + 1];
     
        // Base cases
        der[1] = 0;
        der[2] = 1;
     
        // Fill der[0..n] in bottom up
        // manner using above recursive
        // formula
        for (int i = 3; i <= n; ++i)
            der[i] = (i - 1) * (der[i - 1] +
                                der[i - 2]);
     
        // Return result for n
        return der[n];
    }
     
    // Driver code
    public static void Main ()
    {
        int n = 4;
        Console.Write("Count of Derangements is " +
                       countDer(n));
     
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by nitin mittal

PHP

<?php
// A Dynamic programming based PHP
// program to count derangements
 
function countDer($n)
{
    // Create an array to store
    // counts for subproblems
 
    // Base cases
    $der[1] = 0;
    $der[2] = 1;
 
    // Fill der[0..n] in bottom up manner
    // using above recursive formula
    for ($i = 3; $i <= $n; ++$i)
        $der[$i] = ($i - 1) * ($der[$i - 1] +
                               $der[$i - 2]);
 
    // Return result for n
    return $der[$n];
}
 
// Driver code
$n = 4;
echo "Count of Derangements is ",
                    countDer($n);
 
// This code is contributed by aj_36
?>

Javascript

<script>
 
    // A Dynamic programming based
    // javascript program to count
    // derangements
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    function countDer(n)
    {
        // Create an array to store
        // counts for subproblems
        let der = new Array(n + 1);
      
        // Base cases
        der[1] = 0;
        der[2] = 1;
      
        // Fill der[0..n] in bottom up
        // manner using above recursive
        // formula
        for (let i = 3; i <= n; ++i)
            der[i] = (i - 1) * (der[i - 1] +
                                der[i - 2]);
      
        // Return result for n
        return der[n];
    }
     
    let n = 4;
    document.write(
    "Count of Derangements is " + countDer(n)
    );
     
</script>

Output

Count of Derangements is 9

Time Complexity : O(n)
Auxiliary Space : O(n)
Thanks to Utkarsh Trivedi for suggesting the above solution.

A More Efficient Solution Without using Extra Space.

As we only need to remember only two previous values So, instead of Storing the values in an array two variables can be used to just store the required previous only.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++

// C++ implementation of the above
// approach
 
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
 
int countDer(int n)
{
 
    // base case
    if (n == 1 or n == 2) {
        return n - 1;
    }
 
    // Variable for just storing
    // previous values
    int a = 0;
    int b = 1;
 
    // using above recursive formula
    for (int i = 3; i <= n; ++i) {
        int cur = (i - 1) * (a + b);
        a = b;
        b = cur;
    }
 
    // Return result for n
    return b;
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
 
    cout << "Count of Derangements is " << countDer(4);
    return 0;
}
 
 // Code contributed by skagnihotri

Java

// Java implementation of the
// above approach
 
import java.io.*;
 
class GFG {
   
    // Function to count derangements 
    static int countDer(int n) {
        // Base case
          if(n == 1 || n == 2) {
            return n-1;
        }
       
        // Variable for storing prev values
        int a = 0;
          int b = 1;
       
        // manner using above recursive formula
        for (int i = 3; i <= n; ++i) {
            int cur = (i-1)*(a+b);
            a = b;
              b = cur;
        }
             
        // Return result for n
        return b;
    }
       
    // Driver Code
    public static void main (String[] args) 
    {
        int n = 4;
        System.out.println("Count of Derangements is " + 
                            countDer(n));
       
    }
   
  // Code contributed by skagnihotri
}

Python3

# Python program to count derangements
   
def countDer(n):
       
    # Base Case
    if n == 1 or n == 2:
      return n-1;
         
    # Variables for storing previous values
    a = 0
    b = 1
     
    # using above recursive formula
    for i in range(3, n + 1):
        cur = (i-1)*(a+b)
        a = b
        b = cur
         
    # Return result for n
    return b
   
# Driver Code
n = 4
print("Count of Derangements is ", countDer(n))
# Code contributed by skagnihotri

C#

// C# implementation of the above
// approach
using System;
 
class GFG{
     
// Function to count
// derangements
static int countDer(int n)
{
     
    // Base case
    if (n == 1 || n == 2)
    {
        return n - 1;
    }
 
    // Variable for just storing
    // previous values
    int a = 0;
    int b = 1;
 
    // Using above recursive formula
    for(int i = 3; i <= n; ++i)
    {
        int cur = (i - 1) * (a + b);
        a = b;
        b = cur;
    }
 
    // Return result for n
    return b;
}
 
// Driver code
public static void Main()
{
    Console.Write("Count of Derangements is " +
                   countDer(4));
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by koulick_sadhu

Javascript

<script>
 
    // Javascript implementation
    // of the above approach
     
    // Function to count
    // derangements
    function countDer(n)
    {
 
        // Base case
        if (n == 1 || n == 2)
        {
            return n - 1;
        }
 
        // Variable for just storing
        // previous values
        let a = 0;
        let b = 1;
 
        // Using above recursive formula
        for(let i = 3; i <= n; ++i)
        {
            let cur = (i - 1) * (a + b);
            a = b;
            b = cur;
        }
 
        // Return result for n
        return b;
    }
     
    document.write("Count of Derangements is "
    + countDer(4));
 
</script>