How can I combine 12 events with 3 possible outcomes each(pass fail or average) in every possible arrangement

Question

Am I using combination or permutation??

Answer 1

The difference between a permutation and combination is if order matters:

combination: order does not matter

permutation: order matters

by the way this problem is stated, it seems like order of the 12 events does not matter, so this would be a combination. In that case, you have 12 events, and each one has 3 possibilities

so the number of outcomes would be 3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3 or 3^12 which comes out to 531,441