In general, the number of ways of arranging n objects around a round table is (n-1)! An easier way of thinking is that we "fix" the position of a particular person at the table. Then the remaining n -1 persons can be seated in (n-1)! ways. Done! Thus the number of ways of arranging n persons along a round table so that no person has the same two neighbours is(n-1)!/2 Similarly in forming a necklace or a garland there is no distinction between a clockwise and anti clockwise direction because we can simply turn it over so that clockwise becomes anti clockwise and vice versa. Hence the number of necklaces formed with n beads of different colours = (n-1)!/2 Illustrative ExamplesExampleIn how many ways can 3 men and 3 women be seated at a round table if
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Answers1. (i) 240 (ii) 480 2. 576 3. 604. (i) 60 (ii) 1 5. 2880 6. 3628800 7. 86400 8. 4 9. (i) 2(18!) (ii) 17(18!) (iii) 2(18!) 10. 80640 11. (i) 2 (ii) 2 12. 4 Uh-Oh! That’s all you get for now. We would love to personalise your learning journey. Sign Up to explore more. Sign Up or Login Skip for now Uh-Oh! That’s all you get for now. We would love to personalise your learning journey. Sign Up to explore more. Sign Up or Login Skip for now Page 2Uh-Oh! That’s all you get for now. We would love to personalise your learning journey. Sign Up to explore more. Sign Up or Login Skip for now Uh-Oh! That’s all you get for now. We would love to personalise your learning journey. Sign Up to explore more. Sign Up or Login Skip for now Page 3Uh-Oh! That’s all you get for now. We would love to personalise your learning journey. Sign Up to explore more. Sign Up or Login Skip for now Uh-Oh! That’s all you get for now. We would love to personalise your learning journey. Sign Up to explore more. Sign Up or Login Skip for now
Method 1: We subtract the number of arrangements in which no two women sit together and in which all three women sit together from the total number of arrangements of six people at a round table. Suppose Alexander is one of the men. Seat him. Since only the relative order of the people matters, it does not matter where Alexander sits. The other five people can be seated in $5!$ orders as we proceed clockwise around the table from Andrew. If none of the women sit together, the men and women must alternate. Again, we seat Alexander first. Seating him determine which seats will be occupied by the men and which will be occupied by the women. The other two men can be seated in $2!$ ways as we proceed clockwise around the table from Alexander. The three women can be seated in $3!$ ways as we proceed clockwise around the table from Alexander. Thus, there are $2!3!$ seating arrangements in which no two women sit together. For arrangements in which all three women sit together, we again seat Alexander first. We have three objects to arrange relative to Alexander, the other two men and the block of three women. The objects can be arranged in $3!$ ways as we proceed clockwise around the table relative to Alexander. The women within the block can be arranged in $3!$ orders. Hence, there are $3!3!$ ways the men and women can be seated if all the women sit together. Thus, there are $5! - 2!3! - 3!3!$ admissible arrangements. Method 2: We correct your count. We seat Alexander first. We have four objects to arrange relative to Alexander, the block of two women and the other three people. Choose which two of the three women form the block, which can be done in $\binom{3}{2}$ ways. The four objects can be arranged in $4!$ ways as we proceed clockwise around the table from Alexander. The two women in the block can be arranged in $2!$ ways. Hence, there are $\binom{3}{2}4!2!$ ways in which at least two women sit together, as you correctly calculated. However, we have counted each arrangement in which all three women sit together twice, once for the first two women we encounter as we proceed clockwise around the table from Alexander and once when we encounter the last two women as we proceed clockwise around the table from Andrew. Since we want the number of arrangements in which exactly two women sit together, we do not want to count these arrangements at all. Therefore, we must subtract twice the number of arrangements in which all three women sit together. Method 3: We do a direct count. Seat Alexander. We then ask the women to wait while we seat the other two men. Relative to Alexander, they can be seated in $2!$ ways as we proceed clockwise around the circle relative to Alexander. This creates three spaces, one to the left of each man, in which the women can be seated. Choose which two of the three women sit together, which can be done in $\binom{3}{2}$ ways. Choose in which of the three spaces these women sit, which can be done in $\binom{3}{1}$ ways. Arrange the two women in that space, which can be done in $2!$ ways. Choose in which of the two remaining spaces between two men the other woman sits, which can be done in $\binom{2}{1}$. Therefore, there are $$2!\binom{3}{2}\binom{3}{1}2!\binom{2}{1}$$ admissible seating arrangements. |