                    ABCD
                    CABD
                    ACDB
                    DACB
                    BCDA
                    ACBD
                    ADCB
                    CDAB
                    DABC
                    BCAD
                    CADB
                    CDBA
                    CBAD
                    ABDC
                    ADBC
                    BDCA
                    DCBA
                    BACD
                    BADC
                    BDAC
                    CBDA
                    DBCA
                    DCAB

Listed above are   all-but-one   of the permutations of the symbols   A,   B,   C,   and   D,   except   for one permutation that's   not   listed.



Task

Find that missing permutation.



Methods

 Obvious method: 
        enumerate all permutations of   A,  B,  C,  and  D,  
        and then look for the missing permutation. 

 alternate method:
        Hint:  if all permutations were shown above,  how many 
        times would  A  appear in each position?     
        What is the  parity  of this number?

 another alternate method:
        Hint:  if you add up the letter values of each column, 
        does a missing letter   A,  B,  C,  and  D   from each
        column cause the total value for each column to be unique?



Related task

   Permutations)


<?php
$finalres = Array();
function permut($arr,$result=array()){
	global  $finalres;
	if(empty($arr)){
		$finalres[] = implode("",$result);
	}else{
		foreach($arr as $key => $val){
			$newArr = $arr;
			$newres = $result;
			$newres[] = $val;
			unset($newArr[$key]);
			permut($newArr,$newres);		
		}
	}
}
$givenPerms = Array("ABCD","CABD","ACDB","DACB","BCDA","ACBD","ADCB","CDAB","DABC","BCAD","CADB","CDBA","CBAD","ABDC","ADBC","BDCA","DCBA","BACD","BADC","BDAC","CBDA","DBCA","DCAB");
$given = Array("A","B","C","D");
permut($given);
print_r(array_diff($finalres,$givenPerms)); // Array ( [20] => DBAC ) 
 