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For a group action of a group $G$ on a set $X$, the orbit of a group action of $x\in X$ is the subset of all positions reachable from $x$:Two points belong to the same group orbit exactly when one can be moved to the other by a group element. This is an equivalence relation: the identity element gives $x\sim x$, the inverse element of a transformation reverses a move, and a product combines two moves. Hence the group orbits form a partition of a set of $X$ into equivalence classes. A transitive group action on a nonempty set has just one group orbit. See Ackerman's algebra notes, lemma 0.5.1.3, for the orbit partition.

For the square and the eight-element dihedral group $D_4$ defined under group action, direct enumeration gives the following separate group orbits:

These counts depend on the chosen group action, not just the group. An orbit of a group action describes all configurations equivalent under the permitted transformations. For ordered pairs under the symmetric group, equality of the two entries is preserved, separating the two group orbits in equality-pattern orbits of ordered pairs; the orbit-stabilizer theorem computes their sizes when the symmetric group is $S_3$.

A partition of a set $X$ is a family of pairwise disjoint nonempty subsets whose union is $X$. Every equivalence relation defines a partition into equivalence classes, and conversely belonging to the same cell of a partition defines an equivalence relation. The nonempty colour classes of a finite colouring form a finite partition.

Row $n$ of Pascal's triangle consists of the binomial coefficients $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{0}\right),\dots ,\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{n}\right)$, beginning with row $0$. Boundary entries are one, and Pascal's identity says each interior entry is the sum of the two entries above it. The hockey-stick identity evaluates sums along its diagonals.

The highlighted entry in the binomial coefficient illustration is $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{5}{2}\right)=10$. Split two-person teams according to whether they contain the fifth person: six choose both members from the other four, and four contain the fifth person together with one of those four. Thus $10=6+4$. All entries can be generated by the same local rule, so a large table of counts needs no repeated enumeration of its subsets.

Blaise Pascal's Traité du triangle arithmétique, published in 1665, presents an arithmetic array and connects it to combinations, games of chance, and powers of binomial expressions. This makes the connection between a counting table and several applications visible in the original work. ^[ref] The University of Cambridge's account of the treatise explains its 1654 composition and the organization of these applications. ^[ref]