C#: Dice Permutation without Repetition

Question

How can I change my C# code below to list all possible permutations without repetitions? For example: The result of 2 dice rolls would produce 1,1,2 so that means 2,1,1 should not appear.

Below is my code:

string[] Permutate(int input)
{
        string[] dice;
        int numberOfDice = input;
        const int diceFace = 6;
        dice = new string[(int)Math.Pow(diceFace, numberOfDice)];
        int indexNumber = (int)Math.Pow(diceFace, numberOfDice);
        int range = (int)Math.Pow(diceFace, numberOfDice) / 6;

        int diceNumber = 1;
        int counter = 0;

        for (int i = 1; i <= indexNumber; i++)
        {
            if (range != 0)
            {
                dice[i - 1] += diceNumber + " ";
                counter++;
                if (counter == range)
                {
                    counter = 0;
                    diceNumber++;
                }
                if (i == indexNumber)
                {
                    range /= 6;
                    i = 0;
                }
                if (diceNumber == 7)
                {
                    diceNumber = 1;
                }
            }
            Thread.Sleep(1);
        }
        return dice;
    }

Answer 1

The simplest possible way I could think of:

List<string> dices = new List<string>();
for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++)
{
    for (int j = i; j <= 6; j++)
    {
        for (int k = j; k <= 6; k++)
        {
            dices.Add(string.Format("{0} {1} {2}", i, j, k));
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

I have written a class to handle common functions for working with the binomial coefficient, which is the type of problem that your problem falls under. It performs the following tasks:

1. Outputs all the K-indexes in a nice format for any N choose K to a file. The K-indexes can be substituted with more descriptive strings or letters. This method makes solving this type of problem quite trivial.

2. Converts the K-indexes to the proper index of an entry in the sorted binomial coefficient table. This technique is much faster than older published techniques that rely on iteration. It does this by using a mathematical property inherent in Pascal's Triangle. My paper talks about this. I believe I am the first to discover and publish this technique, but I could be wrong.

3. Converts the index in a sorted binomial coefficient table to the corresponding K-indexes.

4. Uses Mark Dominus method to calculate the binomial coefficient, which is much less likely to overflow and works with larger numbers.

5. The class is written in .NET C# and provides a way to manage the objects related to the problem (if any) by using a generic list. The constructor of this class takes a bool value called InitTable that when true will create a generic list to hold the objects to be managed. If this value is false, then it will not create the table. The table does not need to be created in order to perform the 4 above methods. Accessor methods are provided to access the table.

6. There is an associated test class which shows how to use the class and its methods. It has been extensively tested with 2 cases and there are no known bugs.

To read about this class and download the code, see Tablizing The Binomial Coeffieicent.