Combinatorial number system 601 and 1010001011 = 651, which again shows that "C" comes before "C"<nowiki>'</nowiki>. This number is not however the one one wants to represent the "k"-combination with, since many binary numbers have a number of raised bits different from "k"; one wants to find the relative position of "C" in the ordered list of (only) "k"-combinations. The number associated in the combinatorial number system of degree "k" to a "k"-combination "C" is the number of "k"-combinations strictly less than "C" in the given ordering. This number can be computed from "C" = { "c", ..., "c", "c" } with "c"
Combinatorial number system "C"<nowiki>'</nowiki>, since they have the same largest part 9, but the next largest part 6 of "C" is less than the next largest part 7 of "C"<nowiki>'</nowiki>; the sequences compared lexicographically are (9,6,4,3,0) and (9,7,3,1,0). Another way to describe this ordering is view combinations as describing the "k" raised bits in the binary representation of a number, so that "C" = {"c"...,"c"} describes the number (this associates distinct numbers to "all" finite sets of natural numbers); then comparison of "k"-combinations can be done by comparing the associated binary numbers. In the example "C" and "C"<nowiki>'</nowiki> correspond to numbers 1001011001 =